


This was unexpected

by Luaah



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Getting Together, Homelessness, M/M, Parent-Child Relationship, Slow Burn, Theo Raeken is Liam Dunbar's Anchor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:54:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23757970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luaah/pseuds/Luaah
Summary: Theo Raeken doesn´t know what he is going to do now the war has ended. However, he did not expect his life to turn out the way it did when his living situation became a really big problem, the pack started to trust him, he realized he had feelings for Liam and he suddenly had a baby he had to take care of.
Relationships: Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt, Derek Hale & Theo Raeken, Liam Dunbar & Scott McCall, Liam Dunbar & Stiles Stilinski, Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Lydia Martin & Theo Raeken, Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall/Malia Tate
Comments: 15
Kudos: 71





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is set just after the war in 6x20, when they all finally come home. Also, English isn´t my first language, so sorry for the mistakes. With all the free time we have now, I will probably update fast. Hope you enjoy!

The hospital was completely destroyed after the battle, just like almost every other part of Beacon Hills. But they had survived the war and were going to get home safe, Melissa Mccall was going to make sure of that.

After the last hunters went out of the hospital and they made sure they were all fine, smiles appeared on their faces, they had made it! Even the "cold and heartless" Theo Raeken was smiling, the adrenaline of being alive after all that had happened to much to repress a smile. And Melissa was giving Liam a hug, wide smiles placed in both their faces, Corey and Mason doing the same. And he felt out of place, the weight of what he had done mere minutes ago settling in him. He had taken someone´s pain, he, Theo "I don´t care about anybody else" Raeken and now he didn´t know what to do.

At least, there was also Nolan, who looked as uncomfortable as he was, regret clear in his face. Then Liam jumped to his best friend, who laughed at his state of euphoria and he couldn´t avoid thinking how much he wanted someone who treated him like that.  
But before those thoughts invaded his mind, Melissa put a hand on his arm and looked at him softly, probably understanding how he felt and showing him the support he needed. He offered her a little smile in response, but stayed close to her, looking at how Liam was coming towards them, the happy smile still in his face. Liam looked at him as if thinking of what he should do, but before he decided between a pat on the back or a hug, Mason and Corey came behind him smiling and Mason put his hand on Theo´s shoulder as if to tell him that he knew he cared and was starting to forgive him. Then pain went through his arm and he remembered he had been shot, like Liam.

Before he could ask the werewolf if he was fine, Melissa seemed to realize they were hurt and went full on worried mother mood.

"Oh god, you idiots! How can you be here celebrating and not saying anything about that?" Liam and Theo looked at each other and then at Melissa with apologetic expresions. "Come on, I´m going to check on that injuries. You boys are fine right?" The other three nodded. "Okay. Mason, you go catch my equipment, you already know were it is; Corey and Nolan, call Scott and tell him we´re all fine in here and make sure they are all alive too. Liam, Theo, lets make sure the bullets are out so you can start healing."

Mason quickly came with everything Melisa needed, so she made the boys sit on the floor. First it went Liam, whose lips gritted and went to grab Mason´s hand with his own; the boy in question let out a surprised yelp and Melissa couldn´t help but let out a smile. 

"Liam, you can´t grab Mason´s hand, you are going to crash it" Liam looked at his best friend and was about to say sorry when Melissa interrupted him. "You hold Theo´s, come on" And Liam didn´t even had time to question it before Melissa tried to remove the bullet out of his leg and he grabbed Theo´s had in a strong grip and Theo couldn´t help but feel how warmth spread all along his chest. "That´s it, I will clean the wound when I´ve removed Theo´s so wait here Liam" The nurse said after removing the first bullet. Then she   
moved closer to Theo. "You´ll have to turn around and let me put your shirt a bit up okay?" 

"Yeah, okay" And he moved, exposing his back to the woman who was already working on the wound and to the beta that was still holding his hand. When a specially strong wave of pain came, he grabbed Liam´s hand with more force, closing his eyes and mouth to prevent any sound from escaping. Five seconds later the bullet was out and he started feeling his skin knitting back together at the same time Melissa cleaned it carefully, putting his shirt down while moving to do the same to Liam.

When she finished Corey and Nolan came back into the room, phone in hand and smiles of relief in their faces.

"They are all okay, they really are okay. I can´t believe we´ve made it!" and they let out a breath they didn´t know they were holding. Theo went to get up, not aware he was still holding Liam´s hand, and he stopped as he felt the beta´s hand in his. They looked at each other embarrassingly, Liam´s cheeks a bit red, and let go of each other´s hand to stand up.

"oh, we almost forgot" Nolan said then "Scott told us to go meet him at his house, he said something about wanting to be all together" He looked a bit embarrassed saying that, as if he didn´t think he deserved to be included in the reunion, Theo could honestly relate. He was going to tell them he was going home, a lie because he didn´t have one, when Melissa stopped him.

"Well, we were already going to go to my house despite what Scott said so, come on. Lets hope we get home before the others, otherwise there won´t be any space to sit left" and with that she got out of the hospital, the boys following behind her. "Theo, you´ll have to drive Liam, Mason and Corey and I´ll go with Nolan". The latter looked at her scared , but she just kept going. Five minutes later, they were all in the car, Theo and Liam at the front and Mason at Corey at the backseat. Theo thought about how many days will the smell of the other two boys stay in the place he sleeps, but he just shrugged it off and took part in the way too comfortable conversation the other three were having.

When they got to the Mccall house, only Chris Argent was there, and at the moment Melissa saw him they kissed, making the teens a bit uncomfortable. When they finally separated, they entered the house and even Chris was smiling brightly, as glad as the rest of them that everything had ended. Melissa went upstairs and in less than a minute she was with all of them again offering Liam and Theo some new clothes to change into. Liam accepted them and went to the bathroom to change, while Theo hesitated a bit more. Melissa, watching his face, insisted, and he also went to change. 

Being alone scared him to death, and he was tempted to run away from Beacon Hills because he didn´t know what to do next. He was halfway out of the window when there was a knock on the door.

"Theo?"

Liam

"Liam, what the fuck do you need now?" He opened the door and went out, ignoring the beta.

"I just... wanted to thank you, you know? for saving my ass before. Also, you okay?" of course it was Liam the one who was worried about Theo, the beta was too good for his own good.

"I´m not a little kid Liam, I can handle a few gunshots"

"You know I didn´t mean that. But I know you, so you won´t talk about it. Come on, Scott´s about to come" At those words, Theo felt more than one emotion at a time, he was glad Liam dropped the subject, relieved Scott and the rest were fine but also scared of what they would say. So he just closed his mouth and followed Liam to the living room, where everyone was. Liam dropped himself in the couch and smiled up to him. Theo was way too tired to think about anything so he did the same, feeling himself relax next to the beta. Then Liam smiled suddenly and Theo quickly understood why when he smelled the familiar scent of the alpha. The door opened and Melissa was giving her son the biggest hug in less than a second. Scott´s smiled widened when he smelled his house and everyone in it, it smelled just like home. The moment they broke the hug, Scott´s eyes scanned the room searching for one person, and when he found his beta , he gave him one bone-crashing hug. Liam could just smile and laugh while Scott separated and made sure he was okay.

"Liam I´m so glad you´re okay. You have to tell me everything that happened at the hospital, but tomorrow okay? Now lets enjoy!" And he pulled the younger in another hug. 

After that, Scott went around giving hugs to everyone while Malia entered the house and was also welcomed by tons of hugs. Theo thought the alpha would just throw him one of his gentle smiles, but Scott approached him and also hugged him, not surprising anyone but Theo. When they separated Scott looked at him thankfully, as if he knew the emotions Theo was going through right then. Theo supposed he probably knew.

Malia was with her right arm around Liam´s shoulders when another person came in, and Theo didn´t know someone could think about that many ways of getting out of a house in just seconds. Stiles greeted Melissa in a hug as big as Scott´s and Theo remembered how Melissa was like a mother to him.

"Melissa! I thought I could count you on calling me if anything bad happened! You know your son doesn´t know how to do anything without me, I´m actually serious." And Melissa only laughed and welcomed him home again. Seconds later Stiles was shouting again.

"Liam! I´m so happy to see you man!" and Liam could only hug the person he considered a second big brother. Still hugging, Stiles talked again. "But I´ll be so much happier to see you if you had cut your hair! like, seriously, do you need me to go to the hairdresser with you or something?" Liam looked at him angrily, though not seriously angry, Theo noticed and everyone laughed, probably agreeing about Liam having to cut his hair. Then Stiles, having heard his voice, turned towards him, a perplexed/ confused/ angry expression on his face.

"That´s... Oh my god Scott! I really can´t believe this!" Theo knew this moment would happen. Stiles knew he had helped the pack with the Wild Hunt thing, but he probably didn´t know he was still around. "Look Theo I... I´m just too happy and too tired at this moment to have this conversation with you so... We´ll talk tomorrow, right now I don´t think I can stand you, just... I can´t believe that they called YOU before than ME! I´m gonna have a very serious conversation with Scott over there and i´m gonn-"

"Stiles, stop" Lydia´s arms appeared from behind the taller boy, hugging him from behind. The simple contact was enough to make him shut up and relax against her, a smile now in his face. "Theo´s been helping us, he wouldn´t be here otherwise, right Theo?" She looked at him expectantly and he couldn´t hold himself from saying something.

"Stilinski! I see you´ve finally got the girl. After all these years, who would have guessed it?" And Stiles couldn´t be actually mad about that, he just shot a dirty glare in Theo´s way and went to greet the rest of the pack. And this were all of them right? He supposed the Sheriff and Parrish would pass by later but not now, so when the door opened for eleventh time that night, Theo was surprised.

And he was even more surprised when two men came into the house, he could smell they were werewolves, but nothing more. Melissa smiled to one of them, saying something about how she thought they were never going to see each other again. She didn´t say anything to the other one, who just smirked. Theo knew who he was, he was Peter Hale, they had fought together against the Ghost Riders but never really talked. A conversation between the two of them would probably be something really interesting, Stiles would do anything in his power to stop it from happening.

"Oh Melissa, don´t worry about him. Even I thought I wouldn´t see him again, it was a real surprise when we met some minutes ago, right dear nephew?" Nephew, then that one was Derek Hale, former alpha and part of the Mccall pack, the guy did look tough. 

"Shut up Peter, I haven´t seen you in months, five minutes with you and I already can´t stand your voice"

"That definitely sounds like Peter" Malia cut in. "Come on, sit down, we were going to celebrate"

"So we don´t get to greet everyone with hugs and kisses? What a pity"

"No" Malia deadpanned her father. "Come on, before I change my mind about you". Before anything else could be said, the door opened yet again. When Parrish and Stilinski came into the house, Stiles went to hug his father, who had no idea why his son was on town. Parrish, as happy as the rest, just smiled at them and went to sit next to Chris.

“Stiles, you can´t be here. How the hell are you here? When did you come? Why didn´t you tell me anything?”

“oh no, you are not going to put the blame on me. No. The ones who didn´t tell me absolutely anything were all of you, I´m still mad you told Theo of all people and not me. Just so you know.” Theo couldn´t deny he had a point there, he even let a small smile show on his lips.

“Come on Stiles, get over it” Derek huffed. “Now, I really don´t know some people in here, so if you don´t mind explaining everything that has happened in the last year…”

“Well, well” another voice said from the door. “At least wait until we are all in here, right?” Then another two werewolves came into the house, Theo thought this had to be some kind of sick joke, how many more people were over there coming to the house?

“Oh, awesome! Who else wants to joins the party?” apparently Stiles thought the same. When nobody answered he continued. “Well, only you two then, the killer werewolf twin and the murderous asshole resurrected lizard.” Well, that was impressive. And he wasn´t the only one who thought exactly the same. Liam, Mason, Corey, Nolan, Malia, Parrish and himself were looking at each other without knowing what to do or say.

“Jackson?! Ethan?! I can´t believe this” Derek looked as if he had seen a ghost. “How much time have you two been around?!” Derek was so surprised that even his expressionless face was now one of disbelief. 

“Derek! It´s been so long!” Jackson was really enjoying the situation, so Ethan decided to talk.

“Well, long story short, hunters attacked us on our anniversary and we came here, then Monroe caught us and Lydia and Stiles got us free and we fought at the high school. Now, we really know even less people in here than Derek, so it would be a pleasure to at least know the names, you know? We just fought a war together.”

“Well, you already know my mom and Chris,” Scott started, Jackson and Ethan looked at Chris with surprise, as if they hadn´t expected for him to stick around. “then, he´s Deputy Parrish, a hellhound, we´ll explain later, and she´s Malia, my girlfriend and a werecoyote-“

“She´s also my daughter” Peter added with a smug voice. Jackson and Ethan looked at him in disbelief. “Before you ask, is a complicated relationship. Malia darling, don´t growl.” Scott decided to ignore him and continue.

“That one is Liam, he is my beta and-“

“Your beta?!” Jackson laughed loudly. “Oh my, Scott, you never cease to impress me. What is he? Like your puppy?” at that Liam´s glowed yellow, and the older one laughed even more. “Okay, angry puppy” 

Theo smelled the irritation coming off Liam and quickly grabbed his arm, knowing he was able to calm him down. Liam´s head turned towards him, glowing eyes now looking at him, fangs now visible on his lips and all his anger now redirected to him. He felt everyone´s eyes on them, some worried, Scott, Mason, Melissa or Lydia; and some curious, Peter, Stiles, Jackson and Derek. Theo now gripped both his arms with strong yet gentle hands, that everyone noticed, and looked at him firmly with his normal eyes, making the beta focus. But Liam´s eyes were still golden, so Theo just glowed his own and the other boy slowly calmed down. Five seconds later the eyes Theo was staring at were no longer yellow, just blue, Liam´s blue. Around the room sighs of relief could be heard, but the two boys were still in their own little world, the energy around them similar to the one from the elevator. 

“And I suppose that´s the puppy´s boyfriend” 

How could just one sentence cause that much chaos is still unknown to Theo by today, but the noises following that statement, because it wasn´t a question, could only be described by an outsider like chickens in a chicken coop. Hell got loose.   
Theo lost his grip on Liam and both looked at Jackson as if he has said the stupidest thing ever, Derek´s face was the definition of confusion, Malia looked somewhere between disgusted and amused, Peter simply burst out laughing at the ridiculous and oblivious teens, the other adults were simply speechless, Corey and Nolan were quietly laughing, Mason was looking suspiciously at his best friend, Lydia had a knowing look on her face, Stiles looked what could only be described as horrified and Scott was looking from Liam and Theo to Jackson repeatedly, mouth open and in shook. 

“What?!” “We´re totally NOT together” “This is fucking gold, come on nephew, enjoy the show” “I don´t understand anything” “They do look like a couple” “I can´t believe this” (honestly, Theo also couldn´t) “That… That´s not… that´s not true” “You think or you know?” “And you didn´t tell me anything!?” “NO”

“THEO Liam?! Really?! I was gone for some months not some years” Stiles hand was all over his face, the word incredulous written on his forehead.

“Stop! Your being ridiculous! I´m not his boyfriend so shut the fuck up!”

“Then what are you?” 

“I´m Theo, and you?”

“Jackson, though I thought we were leaving the introductions to Scott” And as fast as it came, the chaos was gone and Scott was trying to introduce everyone. 

“Okay, where were we? Well, as I was saying,” and he looked over at Jackson accusingly “This is Liam, my beta and he is really strong, so I wouldn´t piss him off” At this Liam smiled brightly, gaining soft looks from the other pack members. “And he is Mason, Liam´s best friend and a human. The one next to him is Corey, he actually is Mason´s boyfriend and he is a chimera” Derek shot him a look as if to explain the situation a little further, given to the fact that him, Peter, Jackson, Ethan and Nolan didn´t know what that was. Scott didn´t pay them any attention and kept talking. “The blonde one is Nolan, he is… a reformed hunter, yeah. And the last one is Theo, another chimera” 

“Scott, as you probably know but don´t care,” Peter began “We would like to know what “chimera” means exactly, you know? And maybe fill as in with the events that happened before the war.” 

“A chimera is a person with two different DNAs in their body. In our case, it is a supernatural creature that wasn´t bitten or born, it was created. By the Dread Doctors, who we fought against six months after you went away Derek. The thing is, Corey is a chameleon chimera and Theo a werewolf / werecoyote chimera. Their abilities are similar to ours, though not the same.”

“A chameleon?!” Jackson smiled one of his jock smirks “And exactly can you do?” He asked Corey, who just let out a tired groan.

“I´m too tired for this” And suddenly, he disappeared, and even Peter made a face. Theo had to admit it was pretty funny to see the reactions, Liam and Mason´s laugh echoing around the room. Five seconds later Corey reappeared in the same position, funny expression on his face and tired eyes.

“Guys, don’t you think we should go to sleep or something? I´m exhausted” And, as always everyone said anything, all of them started to talk about what they should do, coming to a conclusion thanks to Melissa.

“STOP. RIGHT. NOW.” Everyone fell silent. “We are going to stay in here, enjoy time together and we´ll talk about more dangerous situation tomorrow. It´s way too late for any of you to go home alone so I will decide what movie we are watching. Meanwhile, the ones who know how to cook go prepare something and the strong ones go catch the armchairs we have upstairs. All clear? Let´s go.” And, though Theo felt a bit out of place, he was enjoying this pack dynamic. 

At the end, almost everyone stayed. Parrish went to his house, saying tomorrow morning would pass by, the same as the sheriff. Melissa and Chris stayed mostly at the kitchen, talking happily but playing attention to the kids, now almost adults. As expected, Mason and Corey ended up snuggled together in the loveseat, and not even ten minutes into the film, Corey was already snoring lowly. The little couch was occupied by Derek, Jackson and Ethan, the three of them way too close to be comfortable, while Peter had another loveseat all to himself. Malia and Scott were laying on the floor, entangled into each other, making Peter do faces. On the other hand, Liam and Theo hadn´t moved from their place on the couch, which they now shared with Stiles and Lydia. It really was worthy a picture.

The minutes passed by, and more of them were falling asleep. The first one was Stiles, because although he told Theo he would never sleep next to him, he was too tired. He looked like a kid, his head on Lydia´s shoulder, mouth open and legs hanging off the couch. But he couldn´t deny Liam looked similar. The youngest werewolf was laying across the couch, legs on Theo´s lap and head on Lydia´s. She was running her hands through his soft and long hair, caressing him like a mother or an older sister. The though made a shiver ran through his spine, he could have had that. But it soon vanished when Liam rolled on his lap, pressing closer to him and he decided he would take this as his free day, he had enough time to worry about everything the next day.

And for the first time in years, he let himself relax and sleep.


	2. Talking with the parents

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here it is the new chapter! I´ll probably update another part in the next few days, at least that´s what I want to do. Hope you like it!

He slowly blinked his eyes open when he heard voices next to him. For five seconds, he couldn´t remember where he was, then he realized the war had ended and he was safe in the Mccall house, not in the back of his truck. He tried to get up, he really did, but he was just too tired to do anything at all, so he just drifted to sleep again, engulfing himself in the warmth around him. 

He was woken up again by a soft touch on his head, hours later, from Lydia. When he opened his eyes for the second time that day, he saw the girl looking at him with a sleepy expression on her face and he turned to watch how almost everybody was still sleeping, although in really weird and uncomfortable positions. His eyes closed again despite his best efforts to keep them open, but he knew the banshee probably had woken him up for a reason, so he rubbed his eyes and got ready to put his big-bad-chimera mascara on. Before doing that he stretched and when he realized he couldn´t do it he looked down at himself to see why, and his answer was there, spread all over him and Lydia, made a burrito with one of the blankets Melissa had brought them, bringing happiness into his chest and sleeping peacefully. Liam. 

He didn´t know what to do, too sleepy to think rationally, so he just looked back at Lydia, who was holding back a grin, as if watching Theo Raeken all sleepy and vulnerable was something funny. Theo thought it probably was. 

“What´s up?” His raspy voice didn’t wake up anyone, he doubted anything would at this point.

“I woke up because of Stile´s snores and saw the little one spread all over you. I figured you wouldn´t really like being crushed to death, als-“

“And why would you care about what I like?” He snapped, voice now sharp. She didn´t even flinch and kept talking, as if she had never been interrupted.

“Also, your stomach was growling really loud and I´m hungry too, but I know I can´t get up without waking Liam. So come on, we´re going to have breakfast.” Then she gestured for him to help get Liam out of her lap and he did. When he grabbed the boy´s shoulders, she was able to carefully hold his head in place while getting off the couch and helping Theo do the same, though with a bit more of difficulty because the younger one seemed to be glued to Theo. When they finally managed to get Liam off of him, they went to the kitchen where they found Melissa and Chris talking calmly and having a coffee. Peter was also there, filling Derek with everything he knew about the Wild Hunt and the hunters. Next to them were the sheriff, Parrish and Scott´s father, who looked rather confused. He could only imagine what he had felt last night when he got to the house and saw some adults talking in the kitchen while half of the Beacon Hills Highschool was sleeping soundly in the living room. He was asking the sheriff and Parrish tons of questions, going from things like “what are your powers” to “how didn´t I found out sooner.” When they entered the kitchen they were greeted by smiles and offered pancakes from Melissa. Mccall looked at them as if he was studying them, wondering what they could be able to do. 

“Good morning Lydia, Theo” Parrish stopped explaining what being a hellhound meant to the confused man next to him to greet them. He was going to talk again when Mccall redirected his attention to the two teenagers.

“I´m sorry but I´m still a bit confused about all of this supernatural things, so you two are also werewolves?” 

“Oh no, we´re not. I´m a banshee, I can predict when someone´s about to die.”

“She also screams, really loud, could literally destroy your cranium screaming.” Another voice said from behind them. “Morning all of you, dad” and Stiles can into the kitchen, coffee already on his hand, he came closer to Lydia and offered her another coffee. At this Mccall looked between confused, amazed and scared.

“She resurrected me too, thank you Lydia by the way” Obviously Peter wouldn´t be himself if he didn´t say something.

“You were dead?!”

“Oh, you would be surprised about how many of us died temporally” Theo was really finding the situation amusing.

“And what are you then?” Mccall asked him.

“An asshole” Theo just smirked at Stiles before answering.

“A chimera” because of the look of confusion he received he explained. “I´m half werewolf, half werecoyote. And now, if you don´t have any more questions, not that I care, I really need to get going.”

“To do what? Plot another murder?” Stiles really couldn´t stop for one second. Melissa looked at him as if she knew how he didn´t do that anymore and Mccall was surprised; while the other adults, Peter and Derek specially, looked at him with curiosity filling their eyes.

“Yes, yours.” A few chuckled at that, Lydia included, which made Stiles look accusingly at her.

“Now, now, I´m really looking forward to know your story, kid.” Peter eyed him with interest and Theo wasn´t surprised. He already knew the ex- villain would be interested in him, just like Derek and all the other people he didn´t know.

“I´ll happily tell you.”

“Go on, Stiles. I´m getting out of here.”

“Oh no, the moment I finish telling everyone about your lovely story, we´re going to talk. Yesterday I told you that, didn´t I?”

“I don´t care about whatever you have to say to me. I´m out.”

“No! Please, stay!” Another person stumbled into the kitchen, blanket still over him and sleep clear on his features. “Don´t go yet, we still had to talk.” And, just like any other time the beta wanted something, he stayed.

“Okay, now this is arranged, why don´t I start with your story?” 

“Wait a second Stiles, why don´t you let him tell it himself? You would prefer that, wouldn´t you Theo?” Derek really didn´t need Stiles sarcasm right there, he wanted the plain truth. Theo supposed he had to talk, but he had never told anyone the whole story, the others had just guessed it.

“When I was eight, the Dread Doctors offered me power and I wanted it, so I listened to them. When I was nine, my sister-” his breath shuttered a little, though he doubted anyone had noticed. “-she fell in the river and the Dread Doctors to me to let her die, so I did. They removed her heart from her body and put it in mine, making me a genetic chimera.” Everyone seemed really interested in hearing the story, and he felt slightly uncomfortable. “They experimented in me and created me, making me what I am nowadays. I lived with them for years, until the beginning of Senior Year, when I came back to Beacon Hills to infiltrate in the Mccall pack and make my own. Stiles was the only one who didn´t trust me and then I manipulated Liam into killing Scott, and when he couldn´t I did. He was dead for 15 minutes before Melissa revived him. Then I made my own pack of chimeras, but we had to work together because the Dread Doctors had managed to create the Beast of Gevoudan. I caught Deucalion, who convinced me into killing my pack to gain even more power, so I killed Tracy and Josh. The thing is, Scott and Deucalion were also allies, so when I betrayed them, he betrayed me.”

“And yet you´re still in here. How exactly is that possible?” Peter was smiling widely. Theo prepared himself to talk as little as he could about the next part.

“Kira used her sword to send me to Hell. I spend there months, until Liam used the sword to get me out when Stiles disappeared in the Wild Hunt. He wanted to use Josh´s powers, which I acquired when I killed him.”

“He´s not like that anymore” Liam interrupted. “You´re picturing yourself even worse than you were Theo” The older one didn´t listen to him and just kept talking.

“The thing is, Hell changed me so I came back with my usual power, so they wanted to send me back. But I remembered Stiles and knew about the Wild Hunt so they kept me around. I came when they called me and helped, with the Wild Hunt and now also with the Hunters, so here I am. Now, not that I enjoy your company, but I have to go.”

“You do have a complicated story, kid.”

“I´m not a kid, I know how to take care of myself”

“We know that Theo,” Scott told him, he hadn´t even noticed the alpha was awake. “But we need to discuss some things now, so lets wake up the rest so we can start.” 

Ten minutes later everyone was discussing what they were going to do now. In a few weeks Scott and Lydia were going off to college in a moth, just like Stiles but to his FBI program and Malia would finally fly to spend some weeks in France. Jackson and Ethan would go back to London after they were sure Beacon Hills was really safe, Peter would do the same he was doing at the moment, Chris and Derek were going to investigate about the hunters and Monroe, but they were going to do it from Beacon Hills. Liam, Mason and Corey were going to go to school again and Theo would be around, helping when needed but also spending time with the pack for no reason, like Scott said:

“Some of us are going away in little time, so I need you all in here to spend more time together, make sure no one is left alone, and that includes all of you, yeah, even you Theo. I don´t know where you went after the Wild Hunt but this time it will be different, understood?” before anyone could answer, the phone rang. Stiles answered the phone and passed it to Melissa.

“It´s for you.”

“Hello? Oh, Doctor Geyer, yeah it´s me. What happened?” Liam´s face went blank and everyone noticed. “Yeah, Liam is here, he spent the night him. Yeah. I thought you knew. Don´t worry, he´s safe. Okay, bye.” Everyone turned to look at the young werewolf. “Liam, how couldn´t you remember to call your parents and tell them you were safe?! They were worried!” Liam´s face was a mix between shame and fear and everyone smiled or laughed at that. After the days they had had, worried parents were a funny thing. 

“Okay, everything clear? I´ll see you all tomorrow, now let´s go get back to our lives.” Everyone went back to the living room to catch their things and go home, and Scott stopped Liam to talk to him. “Hey, Liam, you gonna tell them? In that case, you know you count me in to go with you.” Liam smiled at his alpha

“I suppose I do need to talk to them, especially after tonight, they deserve the truth.” But he looked unsure and scared. “But I don´t know how to tell them. You remember when I told you I didn´t want them to see me as a monster? I still don´t want that. Would you come with me?”

“Obviously. And don´t worry, they´ll understand. Who else do you want to bring with us? I suppose Mason.”

“Yeah, I want Mason to come too.” He seemed to think for a moment. “Can Theo also come? My parents don´t know him so maybe they won´t make such a big scene with him there.” He excused quickly. Scott looked at him with big, understanding eyes.

“If you also want to bring him ´cause he calms you down, that´s also fine. I´ve seen it, and it´s fine, he´s changed. I don´t know why or how, but he seems to be always ready to fight by your side, and when you´re angry he knows how to make it better. His methods may be a little weird, but they work, so come on. Let´s go look for them.” And the two went looking for Mason and Theo.

The first one was easy to find, talking to Corey and Stiles in the living room, probably filling the older teen with the details of the battle. Stiles´ face was one of amazement, and Liam wondered what the other two could have told him. Fortunately, he didn´t have to wait for long to find out.

“Scott! Did you know Theo took someone´s pain yesterday?!” his face was pure disbelief and Liam could imagine why. He knew Theo had changed, but that act had simply proved all his progress. 

“What?! Why didn´t you tell me this sooner? And whose pain did he take? You were all fine when we got here.”

“We figured that if he didn´t tell you himself was because he didn´t want you to know, so we didn´t say anything.” Mason started, “But then Stiles came wanting a report about everything Theo had done so we were telling him. Also, he took Gabe´s pain.”

“Gabe?!” Scott´s face was now one of utter surprise.

“Gabe? Who´s Gabe?” Stiles just didn´t know what they were talking about.

“Gabe was a hunter, he was in our class, he beat Liam up. Other hunters shot him at the hospital and was dying in pain when Theo approached him, you should´ve seen his face. He took his pain so Gabe died peacefully, Melissa also watched this.” Corey explained.

Stiles and Scott´s expressions were really surprised then, but the good kind of surprised.

“Well” Scott said “we´re going to find him. Mason, come with us, we have to do something important. Corey, you can keep telling Stiles about everything that happened, we´ll talk later okay?” The moment they were out of the living room Mason asked them what were they doing.

“We´re telling my parents the truth, and I need you there.”

“But first, we´re going to find Theo.” Before Mason could ask why, Scott was already explaining it. “Theo calms Liam down, so he´s coming with us.”

Finding Theo wasn´t difficult. He was on his truck, ready to go god-knows-where, when they approached him.

“Hey Theo, would you mind coming with us? We need a favor.” The boy in question looked confused. “We are going to tell my parents everything and, you know, you always know how to calm me when I´m angry, so…”

“So you want me to go with me? To your house? Meet your parents and all? You do remember who am I right?”

“Theo, quit playing, we know you´ve changed. And we know you took Gabe´s pain, which congratulations by the way, that´s a big step in the right direction. You left Stiles really impressed there.” Theo groaned, but Scott only smiled softly at him. “Now let´s go. Liam´s parents must be really worried and they need to know, it´s time they do.” Theo could smell how utterly scared Liam was and decided it would be best for him to go along and help him, after all, everything was about helping the other boy.   
So, twenty minutes later, when they were pulling in the driveway of Liam´s house, he couldn´t help but feel scared for the other boy. It was a feeling he had grown used to feel, he knew he felt things for the shorter boy, but he wasn´t sure what they meant. At the beginning it was gratitude, then probably irritation, and after that concern for the selfless asshole. But now he felt a combination of all of that, and something more, but he couldn’t say what it was, he wasn´t that good with feeling. He only knew that whatever that was, he hadn´t felt it before.

Liam went to open the door and he hadn´t even touched the knob when the door opened and a short woman with blue eyes appeared, taking Liam in a bear hug.

“Liam! My God, we were so worried about you!” She separated and kissed his head, still talking about how he could have died and they wouldn´t have known anything. Then her tone changed, face now showing she was also upset. “But not even ONE call Liam?! Are you serious?! We were one minute away from calling the police! Don´t this again, you hear me?” Then another man appeared, relief clear on his face and going to hug Liam, Doctor Geyer. 

“Liam! Come here son, we were really worried, don´t ever do this again okay?” And Liam said his first words since they had reached the house.

“Okay, understood. I was really worried about you too.” And hugged both his parents, tears threatening to appear on his eyes. His mother was the first one out of the hug, looking at the three boys waiting behind her son.

“Oh, boys, I´m so glad you´re also fine.” She went to hug Mason. “Mason, your mother is also worried about you, but at least she knew where you were! Scott, thank God you´re also fine!” She patted his arm with a big smile. Then her eyes moved to the only boy she didn´t know. “And, I´m not sure we´ve met before. I´m Jenna.” Theo was going to introduce himself when Liam beat him to it. 

“He´s Theo, he´s my friend.” Theo was surprised when he didn´t hear Liam´s heart skip a beat, that meant Liam actually considered him a friend. He was somehow glad to hear that, because he also thought about Liam like more than just allies. 

“Hi, it´s a pleasure to meet you” He smiled sweetly at the woman, gaining surprised looks from Scott, Liam and Mason, as if seeing Theo being sweet was something they had believed impossible. 

“Okay, boys, come all inside,“ Doctor Geyer invited them in. “I suppose that you´re all here to tell us something. So go on” The four boys looked between themselves to finally look at Liam, as if to tell him he was the one that had to talk. Liam, looking nervous as hell, just looked at his parents and told them to take a sit.

“I have something really important to tell you, you probably won´t like it but I can´t keep it hidden anymore.” Liam´s parents looked now a bit scared, but smiled as if to tell him to keep going. Liam sat on the couch, Theo and Mason at each side, Scott next to Mason, ready to explain some things himself to Liam´s parents, who were in from of them. “You know, this is, it´s really difficult for me to say, I would really like things were still the same as before but they´re not, and I need you to let me talk without interruptions, please, then we´ll answer all your questions, I promise” Both adults nodded. “You remembered that day, I was fifteen and I had just started in Beacon Hills High School, when I went to the hospital with Scott and Stiles because of my ankle.” Theo was looking at Liam while listening to the story, he didn´t actually know how Liam was bitten, the Dread Doctors never told him, and he knew Scott would just bite someone because he felt like it. “That was the same day Sean Walcott, the cannibal kid, died. Well, he went after me because I was alone in the hospital room and didn´t know what to do. He took me up to where he was found dead and was going to hurt me when Scott came.” The fear in the parents eyes was evident, and he could clearly understand why. Despite this, they didn´t interrupt their son. “They fought but I ended up hanging from the hospital roof and when Scott went to pull me up, the other boy caught his arms, so he did the only thing he could to keep me from dying, he bit my arm so I didn´t fall. And then the other boy was killed and Scott pulled me up.” Liam stopped there, wondering if he could stop there and don´t tell them anything that could scare them even more. His mother looked at him with tears in her eyes, now even more worried than before, and looked at Scott thankfully, just like his father did the same. Scott then looked at Liam, knowing that the boy had to tell his parents the important part of the story right then.

“Sorry, but this is not all. Liam, come on, keep going.” The beta looked at his alpha with fear written on his face while Mason touched Liam´s arm to encourage him. Theo wondered if he also should give the boy his support, but decided he didn´t. 

“Yeah, well, you know all the rumors that have been going on the last couple of months? About supernatural things and all of that, and also all that people saying they were hunters.”

“Yeah, we heard. But that was just people being stupid.” Doctor Geyer said, Jenna just nodded, wanting to know what Liam needed to say.

“Probably… probably you even heard some about m-me” He stopped there, eyes looking now at the floor and Theo knew that the beta wouldn´t have brought him if he didn´t need his support. Slowly, he reached to grab Liam´s hand with his own, and the boy looked quickly at him before looking at the ground again, a very small smile on his lips. Then he intertwined their fingers together, making Theo´s heart skip a few beats, which obviously Scott noticed. 

“Those, those rumors, about me being a… a wer-werewolf, they´re true” The bomb was out, Theo wondered how would the two adults react. He saw how their eyes widened, smiles disappearing totally from their faces and you smell fear and confusion in the air. 

“Wha-what are you saying Liam?! What do you mean?” Jenna was doing everything she could not to freak out, it was clear. When the boy didn´t answer she looked at Mason. “Mason what- what are you talking about?!”

“Mom I, I´m still the same but, I´m a werewolf.”

“Son that´s- that´s just impossible, you know that things don´t exist right?”

“Look, I know what you´re thinking,” Scott cut in “But you have to believe us. How many things have you seen in this town that seemed impossible? Please just, just listen to Liam” when Scott finished talking, Mason looked at the adults and nodded, telling them he believed this, that it was true.   
Liam looked up, sadness clear on him, and Theo tightened his grip on his hand, grounding him. He looked up to meet his parent´s eyes.

“I- Liam, please, tell me this is just a joke. Werewolves- werewolves don´t exist”

“They do, I´m a werewolf” and he flashed his eyes, now yellow. His parents now jumped in surprise and got up, Jenna shielding herself behind her husband, and Theo had to admit that flashing his eyes was a bad move. They didn´t even believe them, and now they gave them a reason to be scared. Liam stood up, his eyes went back to blue, tears forming in them. “See, I´m still me. I´m no monster, I promise” his mother went closer to him.

“How- how did this happen” Scott answered her question this time.

“I´m also a werewolf, when I bit him at the hospital to save his life, he also became a werewolf. I´m his alpha, I take care of him, he´s part of my pack.”

“So, he-he is that, because of you?” Her tone was now reproachful and Liam stepped in.

“I´m no “that” mom! I´m me! And if it weren´t for Scott I would be dead.”

“Okay, okay. Lets calm down okay” David was way less surprised than his wife, probably already suspecting something was up with all the rumors he had probably heard at the hospital. “Liam, you know we support you but, could you give us some minutes alone?” Liam looked just broken. “We´ll come back in five minutes”

The moment they stepped out of the room Liam fell on the couch, hand on his face. Scott knelt down in front of him.

“Come on Liam, don´t worry. They will accept you and then everything will be easier, it wasn´t so bad”

“SO BAD?! Scott my own mother was terrified of me five seconds ago, she probably still is, and it wasn´t so bad?!”

“Liam! Calm down! Scott is right, it could´ve been worse. They told you to give them five minutes, they need to adjust to this! It´s not easy.”

“I know it´s not, Theo! But I- I-“

“Liam, I´m sorry.” His parents came back into the room, apparently much more calmed now. “I- look, it will be difficult to get used to this, but I promise we´ll try okay” his parents opened his arms and Liam gave them a hug, telling them he would explain everything later because now they needed to make sure the town was safe. Liam´s parents hesitated to let him go, not sure about what Liam wanted or needed to do, but they let him, with the intention of having the house to themselves to progress everything. 

~~~

After making sure the hunters had left and spending a whole afternoon looking for some kind of clues they might had left, every member of the pack went back home. Theo wanted to talk to Liam, he knew he had already talked to Scott, but he wanted to make sure he was fine. He was driving him home, it had been an exhausting day and they ended up paired together. They usually did, they made a good team, fought well together and they knew how to keep the other in control, though they didn´t know how. 

“Already tired? Is it past your bedtime Liam? You should´ve told me I needed to drive fast if I didn´t want you falling asleep in my truck.” The beta opened his previously closed eyes to glare at the chimera.

“Fuck off Theo, it´s been a long day.” And he just closed his eyes again

“I think you did the right thing, you know? Telling your parents. Now you won´t have to keep lying to them, and I know you don’t like lo lie, apart from the fact that you do it terribly bad.”

“You´ve never thought maybe you´re too good at lying?” 

“I´m too good doing lots of things Liam, I think you already know that, given all the time we´ve spent together the last few weeks.” At this Liam opened his eyes in disbelief.

“At doing what exactly?! Being an asshole? Getting on my nerves?”

“Yeah, I would also add calming you down, you know? I think I´m pretty good at that, better than anybody else actually.”

“Don´t make fun of me because of that, it´s not funny. Stiles would literally kill me if he knew the person who can anger me the most is also the one who knows how to calm me down” Theo smiled at him

“Don´t worry, he would kill me first.” Liam laughed fondly at that.

“Yeah, that´s probably true. But I think you should talk to Stiles.”

“And why exactly should I do that?”

“So he knows you´ve changed.” He said it as if he believed the words, which made Theo think that maybe, just maybe, all his efforts to become a better person, were worth it.

“Yeah, well, I think he´ll need more than a chat with me to believe that.” Liam looked at Theo exasperated. “Anyway, we´re here.” And he looked at Liam´s house, the kitchen light was on so it was probably his mom or dad waiting to tell him something. Liam looked at him, he was a bit scared, but way too sleepy to think about anything rationally. “Come on, I´ll get you to the door.” And they were out of the truck, when they reached the door Liam turned to look at Theo.

“Thank you for coming with me, and sorry I kept you out of your house till this hour.” Theo just shrugged, he didn´t have a home anyway. “I think, maybe you should pass by more often. Corey, Mason and I usually have movie nights, it could be fun. And Scott said we all should spend more time together so…”

“I´ll keep that in mind.” He didn’t pay attention to the way something similar to happiness suddenly surrounded him. “Goodnight Liam, call me if you need anything.”

“Yeah, I will. Goodnight Theo.”


	3. Remaking his life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here comes another chapter! Hope you enjoy it, updating soon!

Theo was looking for a place to park his truck and sleep, too tired to think about anything, especially about a blue eyed beta who didn't seem to leave his mind.

When he finally found a parking spot he let out a happy sight, he would be able to sleep. The moment he had settled himself on the back seat, a knock sounded on his window and he looked up to meet the Sheriff's eyes.

"Theo, what exactly are you doing here? You know you can't park here at night right?" Stilinski looked at him worried, if he didn't know any better he would say the man looked concerned.

"Uh, yes I know. I only stopped to get something from here. As soon as I catch it, I'll go home" he knew it was a lie, but the sheriff didn't. Apparently, he didn't even know Theo was homeless, which surprised him because of the countless times he was awoken by someone from the Beacon Hills Department.

"Oh, okay" the older man seemed to hesitate "good night, Theo"

"Night"

After the Sheriff took off he covered himself with his blanket and went to sleep.

~

Liam was scared while going into his home, he hadn´t seen his parents since he told them his biggest secret, and now that they had had enough time to think about it, he didn’t know how they would react. He hoped they weren´t angry, or worse, scared of him, but he couldn´t blame them if they were.

“Liam?” His mother´s voice sounded a bit scared, but mostly worried. He entered the kitchen to find both his parents there, waiting for him. The moment they saw him, his mom enveloped him in a big, motherly hug. “Look sweetheart, we´re so sorry for making you think you couldn´t tell us. But from now on, you need to talk to us, you understand?”

“We don´t want you being hurt Liam, we want to know you´re safe, or at least where you are.” His dad said then. “And get ready for tomorrow, because we want to know everything, okay? We want to know what you´ve been through.” Liam face went blank

“But why? You´ll get angry and for things that already happened!” he tried to explain

“Go to bed, come on, we´ll discuss this tomorrow.” And he did, the next day would be tiring, a talk with his parent, a pack meeting, looking for more hunters, playing lacrosse with Scott and Stiles and then, home again.

~

Next morning, Theo was happy to see that there wasn´t any police officer at his window when he woke up, so he allowed himself to sleep a bit more.

He would had been asleep for a few more hours if it wasn´t for his phone, that had started ringing. He woke up way faster than he wanted to and saw it was Scott calling him.

“Yes, Scott?” he asked, tiredness clear on his voice. Scott seemed to hesitate when he heard Theo.

“Theo? You awake? It´s almost lunch time and we were all coming to my house. We got worried ´cause you weren´t here yet.”

“Yes Scott, I´m awake, how would I be talking to you if I weren´t? And you were worried about me? Do I have to actually believe that?”

“Yes.” Scott said seriously now. “I was worried, like Mason, Corey and even Lydia, although Liam was probably the most worried of all.” Theo´s chest warmed at that, but he paid no attention, he didn´t want to know what that meant.

“And what exactly did Stiles and Malia say about that uh?”

“Actually, despite how weird it might sound, Malia is already used to you” Theo snorted at that. “I´m not saying she trust you, but she no longer minds your company, she even said so herself. Stiles, on the other hand, he´s a bit skeptical, but it doesn´t matter. Will you come?”

“Yeah, I suppose. I´ll be there in ten.” And just like that a still sleepy Theo made his way to the Mccall house. He got there in a bit more than 10 minutes, but it didn´t matter, the pack was already talking about the news Chris had discovered about Monroe.

“Everyone here thinks she died, or that she just disappeared, she hasn´t talked with any of them since the final battle. After talking with other hunters from out of Beacon Hills I think that she went away. Hopefully, she won´t come back here, though I think we should stay cautious, we don´t know when she might try again.”

“I think we should go look for her”

“No” Derek cut in.” That would be stupid, she would know if a whole pack were going after her all around the world. Maybe one or two of us could try to find her, but right now we don´t know anything about where she is and what she is planning to do.” Scott looked at Derek, agreeing with him.

“Anyone who doesn´t agree?” He asked. Words of approval could be heard from everyone.

“Could anyone please tell me what we are discussing?” Theo asked, coming into the house. Liam looked happily at him, as if he was relieved the older boy was there. Scott and some others greeted him, while Stiles looked at him skeptically.

“Oh, finally you´re here!” Peter cut in. “I was wondering when you would come, things are so much more interesting with you. All of this people are too good.” Theo couldn´t help but grin a little at that, oldest werewolf could be really funny.

“Peter” Malia stopped him. “Stop, I don´t need you two getting along.”

“Too late for that sweetheart, I like him.” And weirdly enough, Theo felt strangely good knowing there was someone who appreciated him. After Malia growled at her father, Scott and Derek told him everything they were talking about and he agreed on waiting till they knew more to go for her.

“Okay” Scott started after half an hour, which they spend thinking about their next step “We´re going to go to all the places we know Monroe´s hunter reunited, if they are all empty, without people, weapons or any other thing, we could finally say Monroe´s gone and we are no longer in danger, at least for now.” Everyone´s face was one of relief, smiles making their way on their faces. “We´re all going in pairs. Stiles and Lydia, you go to the Sheriff´s Department to see if he knows something new. Mason and Corey, you stay here, make sure we go to every place the hunters were in. Malia, you´re with me, Derek with Peter, Jackson with Ethan and Liam with Theo; we are all going to see if there is any hunter left in here.”

“Scott!” Stiles interrupted “You´re letting baby Liam go alone with Theo?!”

“Theo´s changed Stiles, and I´m not a baby”  
  
  


“Yeah, say that when you fall in a hole again”

~~~

One hour and a half later, Theo and Liam were already tired from searching for a hunter in the big basement they were at.

“Liam, you have already looked in there, and you found nothing. This time, it´ll be no different” Theo teased him, the beta was irritated and he was an expert on getting on his nerves.

“Shut up Theo” Theo just laughed at him. “Really, you aren´t even trying to help!”

“I´m not?!”  
  


  
“You´re not! You´re just being… I don’t know! You´re just being you! Helping me but always constantly making me angry!”

“Do I make you angry Liam?” Theo stepped closer to the younger boy, his voice becoming lower with each word. “Because I think you control yourself better when I´m around,” Theo didn´t even know he really thought those things until he said them out loud, he was too scared of what they might mean “- and that´s what makes you angry.” Liam eyes glowed and his fangs appeared for a moment before they disappeared at all, his heart was going quickly and he still had an angry expression on his face.

“I said shut up Theo!”

“Why should I?! ´Cause you no longer like the sound of my voice?! You´ll have to stand it!”

“Fuck you!” the older boy, seeing how Liam was actually tense and upset about something, decided to stop teasing him. He glowed his eyes yellow to him and he calmed down. “I´m sorry” The beta told him.

“Lest just keep searching.”

After another half an hour had passed and they had checked twice the basement, they decided to head back to Scott´s house. Luckily, if the others hadn´t found anything, the rest of the afternoon would be spend having fun and enjoying time with their friends.

“I meant what I said earlier” Liam started when they got in the car. “I´m really sorry”

“It´s okay, I understand. You don´t like it´s me the one who can calm you down, you scared I will manipulate you again? Or that I betray the pack and you lose control of yourself entirely again?” It had even hurt Theo say those words, he knew the pack didn´t trust him, but he was really trying to change, to be better. The thing was that almost none of them seemed to realize that.

“What?! No! It´s not like that and you know it!”

“Then what is it uh?”

“I- I don´t like to rely my control on you because I don´t know when you´re going to leave.” He didn´t say if, he said when, as if he was sure they chimera was going to leave at one point. Theo looked at him in surprise. “You don´t have anything holding you back, you´re free to go anywhere you want. And I know Scott said we should stay together, but you don´t have to actually listen to him”

“Don´t you think that if I was going to leave, I wouldn´t have done it already? I wouldn´t have fought by your side and I definitely wouldn´t have taken part in a war if was going to go away” Liam really tried to suppress his surprise and his relief, but Theo smelled it quickly in the air.

“And what are you planning to do? Like, you going to finish highschool? Get a job?” Liam tried to change the subject before it became awkward. “Actually, what have you done until now?”

“I don´t think that´s any of your business Liam, but I don´t know what I do, I haven’t thought about it.” Liam decided to let pass how Theo hadn´t answered the last question, he supposed the chimera would tell him when he felt ready.

“You really have no idea about what you wanna do?! Like, anything?!”

“Yeah, Liam, I had so much time to think about my future or a career while growing up with the Dread Doctors! I couldn´t stop thinking how funny college was gonna be!” came his sarcastic reply. Liam didn´t seem surprised, he just kept talking.

“But like, anything at all?! Not even an astronaut or a football player?!”

“No Liam! I don´t know what to do with my life, okay? The only thing I wanted as I kid were superpowers, and then it was power. Now, I don´t want it.”

“I know you don´t” Liam answer was sincere and he made it sound as if it was nothing important, but to Theo it meant so much that someone was noticing his efforts to change, especially if that someone was Liam.

“You do?”

“Yes” Liam answered again, and then he looked out of the window. “Look, we´re here!” And yes, Theo realized, they had reached the Mccall house and everyone was already waiting for them.

“Guys! You finally here!” Mason greeted them. “You found anything?”

“Nothing” Liam replied shortly, wanting to know about the other, expecting they could just relax now. Theo rolled his eyes.

“There was nothing in there, no people, no weapons. There were just a few papers, but they weren´t even important.” Smiles appeared in the rest of the pack´s faces, letting them know the others didn´t find anything either.

“That´s so good!” Scott started, Stiles clapped him on his back while reaching to put an arm around Lydia. “Well, we´ll discuss a few things and then,” a big smiles appeared on his face “we can celebrate.”

And, like Theo learnt later, by “celebrate”, they meant “doing the stupid until they got tired” and then relaxing. When the adults realized how things were going to go, they quickly came inside, leaving the teenagers by themselves. Scott also went inside for a few minutes, before coming back with lacrosse sticks, making some grin and some groan.

Scott, Stiles, Liam and Corey caught a stick and got into positions to start playing, Corey in the goal and the other three passing the ball around to see who would score. The thing got really funny to see when Corey sometimes became invisible, which led to a lot less points than expected and Corey with a black eye. However, Theo was surprised when Lydia sat next to him. Lydia had always liked watching lacrosse, especially when her boys where on the field, and now she was there, cheering next to Theo. He looked at her and she looked back at him, smiling.

“You should try it.”

“Liam and Scott wouldn´t like a beginner winning them, and Stiles even less.” Lydia chuckled at that, she couldn´t deny that wasn´t true, especially if the beginner they were talking about was Theo.

“You could be good at it, you have the body.”

“Thanks, but no. Lacrosse was never my thing.”

“When you were what? Eight?” Another voice snapped. “I´ll do it if you also do” Malia told him, and Theo couldn´t believe the werecoyote was talking to him.

“Is this a challenge Malia? ´Cause if that´s the case, I´m all in” Theo knew he would regret his decision the moment he saw the girl´s smirk.

“Perfect Raeken, be ready to get your ass kicked.”

Fortunately, Liam was there to teach him the basic things and he was a fast learner, so he hoped he wouldn´t end up totally ridiculed. Liam and the other´s faces had been a mix between fear and amusement while they saw him and Malia walking into the field together, but he couldn´t blame them, it was really worthy a picture.

The competition was hard, he was either made fun of by Stiles, who wasn´t much better than him, knocked down by Malia or distracted by Liam, whose movements didn´t help him concentrate at all. He didn´t know why the other boy had that effect with him, well, actually deep inside him he knew why, but for now he didn´t know.

The game finally ended and Malia and him were still fighting over who had been the best of the two of them. No one dared to say anything, not wanting to know what could happen if they got one of them angry. After they had brought the sticks back home, they sat in the living room and Theo felt good. For the last few days the Mccall house was the place in which they could relax and feel safe, and that was just how he felt. Liam, after playing for hours, had fallen asleep and his head slowly went to rest on Theo´s shoulder, making his heart go a little faster and Stiles glare at him. Finally, it was time to go home and Theo decided to bring Liam home himself. He woke him up by shouting on his ear, making the sleepy boy wake up with a yell himself and glare hardly at him.

The car ride was spent between a comfortable silence and easy conversations. When they pulled on his driveway Liam went out of the car after wishing him good night and was going to get in the car when he stopped.

“Would you like to- you know, hang out tomorrow with Mason, Corey and me? We were planning on doing a movie night, and I suppose you´ve never had one of them.” That part was right.

“Would Corey and Mason be okay with it?”

“Oh, yes! I already asked them and they said it was no problem. So, tomorrow by eight you´ll be here?” Theo seemed to consider it, but he finally decided having a bit of fun wouldn´t be that bad.

“Okay, I´ll come around. See you tomorrow then.” And Liam smiled, making both their chests fill with warmth.

“Yeah, see you”

~

Liam didn´t know what was happening to him. As if discovering the chimera was able to calm him down hadn´t been enough, he now got distracted by him all the time. It was getting worrying. But he couldn´t help but smile when he remembered the awesome movie night he would have with his friends the next day, it would be like the good old times. Mason, Corey, Theo and himself, his friends. He suppressed the sense of discomfort that came when thinking of Theo as a friend and decided to think about what films they would be watching the next day. After some time thinking, he finally fell asleep again, happy that the day had gone so good.

~

Theo was sleepily lying on his truck, thinking about his future. When Liam asked him what he wanted to do, he hadn´t know what to say, he still didn´t know. He had never had the time to question himself what he would like to be. And now, why would it matter, he hadn´t even finished highschool, he couldn’t go to college. Unless… maybe there would be the possibility he enrolled on senior year, he had to ask Lydia´s mother. He knew Liam and the others would go back to school in two days; maybe, if he was lucky, he could start again with them.

He was woken up by a knock on his window from a police officer, like usual, and it was already 7 am so he decided to go have breakfast instead of sleeping again. His usual breakfast was a cup of cheap coffee from a little bar and sometimes, if he had the money, some toasts. Today he didn´t have the money, in a few weeks he wouldn´t be able to even pay for a coffee. That made him think, he needed a job.

He started looking for one after finishing his coffee, going to lots of shops and bars and asking if they needed another employee, which they all said no. Lunch time had passed hours ago and he had eaten a sandwich. He had almost given up when he saw another coffee shop across the street, though this one looked way better than the other ones he had been in. He went towards it and stopped at the door. The coffee shop was really beautiful, simple but fancy; you could see only people with lots of money could really afford to eat in there, the place was expensive. He wondered how much better the coffee from there would be compared to the one he drank every morning, maybe they even had a discount for workers.

He made his way inside the shop and asked one of the waitress if he could see the boss. She told him to wait a moment, and in five minutes another woman walked towards him.

“Hello, I´m Olivia Smith, the owner, what can I do for you?” she asked politely. She was wearing really good clothes and she smelled like expensive perfume, which intimidated him a bit. He had never pictured himself going around every shop of the town looking for a job ´cause he needed the money to enroll school and maybe go to college and do something of his life.

“Hi, I´m Theo Raeken.” He shook her hand. “I was wondering if maybe you needed another worker in here, I´m looking for a job and though I don´t have lots of experience, I´m a quick learner.” She eyed him with curiosity.

“Okay, let me see your curriculum.” He handed it to her “You still in high school, graduating this year?”

“Hopefully yes”

“And you´ve already worked before?”

“Yes, I worked in a small shop in the town I lived before I moved in here.” Which was true, he had needed the money to buy his truck, the Dread Doctor weren´t willing to give him anything that wasn´t essential.

“Okay,” She eyed him again “I was actually going to put in the door a poster saying we needed more people working in here. But now that we have you here I don´t think I´ll need to do that.” He smiled widely at her.

“Really?”

“Of course, we need good looking people working in here. People usually like it more when the people who bring them their food aren´t ugly.” Theo had never in his life been more grateful about his looks than now. He just smiled at the woman

“Okay, when do I start?”

“This Monday, but now we´ll discuss your schedule. I suppose you can´t work at mornings.”

“Only Saturday and Sunday, the other days I have school” Theo really hoped that would be true.

“Okay, so what do you think about working in here Mondays, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and Saturday mornings?”

“That would be perfect, thank you.”

“Don´t thank me. Lets talk about numbers”

~

Ten minutes later Theo came out of the coffee shop with a new job and a salary bigger than he had expected. He only had another objective: talk with Lydia.

He was lucky he still had her number saved on his phone and he texted her a simple “I need to ask you a favor” To which she replied by calling him.

_“Theo? I really hope you don´t need me for my banshee powers”_

“No Lydia, I wanted to ask you something.” This had been the main reason why he hadn´t called her and just texted her, he knew he would be a bit nervous asking her this.

_“Well, go ahead. I´m listening”_

“I wanted to know if you could talk with your mother about me going back to school.”

“ _To school?! You´re planning on finishing highschool?! That´s really good Theo!”_

“Yeah, I just, I want to actually do something.”

_“In that case, I think my mother would approve you came back. I´ll talk to her now and I´ll text you in ten minutes to tell you how it went, okay?”_

“Okay, thanks Lydia” and he hung up. He was actually remaking his life and it felt pretty good

True to her word, ten minutes later Lydia texted him saying he could go back to school if he passed some basic tests on Monday, but that it wouldn´t be easy to catch up on everything. He wasn´t really worried about that, he had always been smart. He was more worried about how he was gonna tell Liam, Mason and Corey he would be going to school again with them, but he figured he would tell them at one point in their movie night. Which reminded him, it was already time to go to Liam´s.

Twenty minutes later he was knocking on Liam´s door, Mason and Corey weren´t there yet, but he figured they would come any moment.

“Theo! You came!” Liam smiled widely at him when he opened the door.

“Wasn´t gonna let this opportunity pass” Theo answered easily “You wanted me here didn´t you?”

“Yes, of course! I just thought I would have to go get you” Theo felt the usual warmth he felt whenever the beta was around and he smirked.

“Already missing me?” Before the shorter boy answered and embarrassed himself even further, Theo talked again. “When are Mason and Corey gonna come?”

“We´re here!” came Mason´s loud scream while he got out of his car, Corey behind him. “And we brought the movies!”

“Which ones?” Liam replied while hugging his best friend, Corey smiled at Theo, letting the older boy see his arm full of popcorn, sweets and candy.

“Star Wars, Stiles said you still haven´t seen them and that you _must_ do it”

“Oh” came Liam´s reply, and he closed his eyes, remembering of many times Stiles had threatened to kill him if he didn´t watch Star Wars.

“You haven´t watched Star Wars?!” Theo was actually surprised, he thought everyone had watched Star Wars.

“Wait” Corey looked at him with disbelief “You´ve watched it?!” Mason and Liam also looked at him now.

“Yeah” The other three boys looked even more surprised, if that was possible. “Stiles and I used to watch it together when we were kids.”

“It´s honestly so weird to think you were Scott and Stiles´ friend when you were a kid.” Theo just rolled his eyes at Mason “It´s even weird to think about you as a kid”

“Yeah” Corey agreed. “Like Derek, I can´t imagine Derek as a kid”

“Are we gonna keep talking about ruined childhoods or we are going to have that movie night?” Theo cut in, knowing their conversation would lead nowhere.

“Right” Liam started “Come in, my mother´s going to work in 5 minutes so we´ll have the house to ourselves the whole night” and just like that Liam´s mother appeared next to him. Theo remembered the last time he had seen her and he had the sudden urge to ask Liam about how he was now his parents knew everything.

“Come on boys, it´s so good to see you.” She welcomed them all. “I left you a bit of money on the table for pizza” then she looked at Corey and all the food on his hands. “Or maybe for something else” Theo smiled at that, he could see the similarities between her and her son. “Try not to destroy my house okay? Mason, I leave you in charge”

“Understood” Was the only reply from said boy.

“Well, have fun, and try not to stay up really late” Liam smiled at his mother, and she knew the boys would do just that. “I´ll see you all tomorrow”

Theo was surprised to see how comfortable the other boys were with him, he supposed they were too happy they had won the war to worry. In less than ten minutes the popcorn was ready, each one of the boys had caught their own sweets and they were all on the couch, the first Star Wars Movie already playing.

“But” Liam but in for the eleventh time, “Why are we starting in the fourth one? Shouldn´t we watch the first one?”

“Liam, we already explained you why at least three times.” Mason told his best friend

“I know, but I still don´t understand”

“Liam” Theo replied, “I think even you should be able to understand why” Liam growled at him and he laughed. “Now shut up and watch the film”

As expected, Mason and Corey quickly moved to the other couch to cuddle, they were disgustingly cute.

“I don´t want to go to school” Corey said suddenly

“But you have to” Mason reminded him “Otherwise, how are we gonna go to UCLA together?” Theo was surprised at that

“You´re going to college together?”

“Hopefully yes” Corey answered “And you? What are you planning to do?” Theo figured this would be the best time to tell them, so he did.

“I´m actually enrolling school on Monday, I want to graduate” the three boys looked at him surprised

“So you´re coming to school with us?” Mason asked

“Willingly?” That was Liam

“Yes, I don´t know yet what I want to do, but college would be interesting”

“That´s really cool, dude!” Corey smiled “Though you are going to regret it as soon as you see the textbooks”

After that they quickly went back to watching Star Wars, and they were starting the third one when they heard a low snore coming from Corey.

“He´s really asleep?!” Liam said, then laughed and Theo couldn´t understand why. He could understand Corey though, he already felt sleep getting to him. “Theo? You can go to sleep too, you know? We´ll clean everything tomorrow.” And Theo, eyes now closed, smiled and leaned closer to the warmth on his left, resting there and smelling the familiar smelt of Liam, which he could recognize anywhere. He felt the other boy inhale sharply, tense, and then relax into him, smelling happy. Theo realized he also felt happy, pressed against the person he cared the most in this world.

And that´s when it hit him, all of this things he felt around Liam, that he didn´t know what they meant, now it made sense. He had feelings for Liam, _romantic_ feelings. But he was too tired and too comfortable to do anything at the moment, so he just fell asleep. 


	4. Chapter 4

Mason slowly opened his eyes but didn’t move, preferring to cuddle with his boyfriend for as long as he could. His sleepy eyes slowly traded through the room and stopped themselves at the incredulous sight on the other couch.

His best friend was sleeping on the couch, his back against the couch and his mouth parted slightly; nothing was weird about that. What was weird was that against his chest was the chimera´s back, that his arms were around the other boy and that both seemed absolutely comfortable and at ease.

Mason thought he was dreaming.

He closed his eyes, opened them again, only to see exactly the same as before. He wondered if he should wake them up, but finally decided against it, he knew they needed to sleep. Instead he caught his phone and saw a message from Scott.

_“Tomorrow Malia´s going to France, she will be there only for a week, but we wanted to be all together before that, so how does it sound coming to my place at the afternoon?”_ Mason replied with a quick _“Okay, we´ll be there”_ and continued to go through his phone, till he felt Corey start to wake up. He kissed his boyfriend cheek and the other boy smiled at him, before he saw Liam and Theo and his eyes widened.

“They are- they are cuddling. How is that possible?” Corey just whispered

“I really don´t know, but they get along better now, don´t they?” Mason was also confused, however, Corey looked at him with an incredulous glance.

“Of course they do!” he started “Haven´t you seen how they act around each other?”

“What?!” Mason was even more confused “What do you mean?”

“You´ve seen how Theo is with Liam, he´s the one he cares the most about. And Liam weirdly seems to trust Theo, he´s in better control when he´s around.”

“Yeah, I know. But you couldn´t possibly be saying that they like _like_ each other. Liam doesn´t even like guys!”

“Maybe he does, but he doesn´t know that yet. I´m telling you, there will be something between them”

“You wanna bet?” Mason saw how sure his boyfriend was about his friends liking each other, but he didn´t see it. There were too many obstacles, if they wanted to get together at any time, it wouldn´t be easy.

“Of course! How much?”

“20?”

“20 is it, then!” Corey smiled. “But seriously, how can you not see it? Like, Theo is so obvious. He doesn´t show interest in _anyone_ , and then suddenly, he´s protecting Liam. Making sure he doesn´t get hurt, doesn´t die, doesn´t kill anyone, doesn´t lose control… I don´t think even themselves have figured it out yet, but I hope they will.”

“I don´t know. But wait, then why were you surprised when you saw them sleeping like that?”

Oh! That was just because I thought none of them would do something about their relationship!“ Mason was about to laugh when they saw how Theo was starting to wake up slowly in Liam´s arms.

***

There was warm all around him when Theo woke up. There was another body plastered against his back but he was too tired about who it could be and the consequences. He felt eyes watching him, but he still was too tired, so he just pressed back against the person behind him and closed his eyes.

Until he realized there was a person behind him, a boy. And not just behind him, the boy had his arms around Theo´s body and one leg throw over his hip, his breath on his neck was making shivers go up his spine.

He opened his eyes again suddenly, and was surprised to find out he was on the verge of the sofa, if there wasn´t for the boy wrapped around him, he would be on the floor. With his new-found energy he didn´t need three seconds to recognize the boy.

Liam. Of course it was Liam. A wave of panic overcame him when he remembered the discover he had made the night before. He felt _things_ for Liam. Things he couldn´t afford to feel. He tried to move but Liam just snuggled even closer and Theo´s heart skipped a beat, feeling Liam´s warmth all around him. He couldn´t believe they were in that position, he couldn´t also believe _Liam_ was cuddling _him._ Still, he couldn´t say it didn´t feel good, it actually felt awesome, being so close and comfortable with the person who had given him the opportunity to change and _live._

He turned his head a bit to see Liam´s hair, but it turned to be a “bad” move when Liam´s lips brushed against neck, making him shiver again. He couldn´t believe the beta had that effect on him and he felt the urge to get out of there as quickly as he could. But he knew there was no way he wouldn´t wake Liam up, and it would be really uncomfortable. He suddenly heard silent laughs coming from the other couch and he remembered that they hadn´t been alone last night.

His eyes moved to were Corey and Mason were sitting, looking at them with amused faces, he just groaned.

“Now you watch people while they sleep?”

“Apparently we do” Corey told him smiling

“You´re going to have trouble to get out of there, you know?” Theo looked at Mason “Liam likes to use people as his personal pillows. As you have probably noticed, he usually makes lots of physical contact. It´s his way of showing affection to others, words aren´t easy for him.” Although Mason said that mostly to confuse Theo, he knew that it was totally true. And now that Corey had told him what he thought about their friends relationship, he could see that there was in fact something else in there.

Theo´s mind was racing a mile minute. No one knew Liam better than Mason, then why had the boy said it was his way of showing affection? Why would he want to show affection to Theo? He didn´t understand. He tried to get out of Liam´s hold again, but failed miserably when the movement made Liam start to wake up.

“morning”

***

“morning” Liam said sleepily, thinking his mother was waking him up to go to school.

He stirred, feeling something against his chest that didn´t let him move a lot, he figured it should be his pillow. However, he was surprised when he realized his pillow shouldn´t be that hard and slowly opened his eyes to be met with the back of a neck. He recognized that neck, but it didn´t make any sense. Why would be Theo waking up next to him? No, impossible, he must be dreaming. He decided not to think about why would he be dreaming about Theo and closed his eyes again, putting his head on the croak of Dream Theo´s shoulder and inhaling his scent, it felt so real.

It felt too real. Especially when he heard Dream Theo inhale sharply, as if wasn´t expecting that. He opened his eyes suddenly, remembering everything from the night before. It hit him, there was no Dream Theo, there was Theo, who was currently in his arms, with his back against Liam´s chest and he surprised himself thinking that he liked it. He liked it less when he spotted Corey and Mason watching them and he was quickly to try and sit up. He couldn´t, he still had Theo in his arms, a Theo that was looking at him strangely.

“S-sorry” he was still sleepy, hair pointing to every direction and a lazy and embarrassed smile on his lips. Theo found it cute, and then he couldn´t believe he had actually thought that.

“Yeah, no problem. But would you mind letting me go?” Sarcasm was his only defense in that situation, and he was planning to use it. A half hurt, half amused look appeared on the werewolf´s face before pushing him to the ground. Theo fell and then looked at Liam as if he had betrayed him completely, making Corey and Mason laugh even more than they already were.

“Gosh, you´re an asshole even when you´re all sleepy”

“Everyone´s an asshole at morning Liam, you just proved that yourself” And he quickly got up from the ground. “Now we´re all awake, I have to go” he caught his phone and read the messages. “I guess I´ll see you later at Scott´s.”

“Theo wait! First we have breakfast! If you sleep at someone else´s house you also stay for breakfast.”

“Yeah, sorry I didn´t feel like spending more time with you.” Liam looked at him unimpressed. “Okay okay, I´ll have breakfast.” The beta smiled now.

“Perfect. Also, my mum made pancakes, so this´ll be a good breakfast”

Actually, it was the best breakfast Theo had had for years, first of all, it wasn´t a coffee and second, pancakes. The breakfast mostly consisted on Liam and Mason talking a lot, Corey looking at him weirdly and Theo looking at Liam and freaking out about his new-found feelings. He suspected Corey knew something, he was looking at him as if he was studying his every move. But he decided to ignore him, whatever Corey was thinking, he would tell Theo if it was really important.

He was fast to try to get out of the house after breakfast, but Liam was faster.

“Theo, you´re going already?”

“Yes, I have better things to do” He had things to do, but he doubted they were better.

“You´ll come to Scott´s right?” Theo just nodded and finally got out, opening the door of his truck to get in, he needed to buy a few things if he was going back to school. First of all, he needed new clothes, he had been wearing the same 4 outfits for months and he needed at least two more if he wanted to go back to school without anyone noticing something weird about him.

He made his way to the mall, stopping to see how much money he had left. He figured that now that he was going to eat at school and had gotten a job, he could afford buying new things, especially things he really needed. He got in the mall and started looking for a shop with clothes, finally he found it and he started looking for clothes that he liked and weren´t very expensive, actually, cheap clothes would be perfect. He continued to walk around, catching two pairs of jeans and a hoodie. He saw a T-shirt that he liked and began to walk towards it when he was met with a sign that he really didn´t want to be true. Just next to the T-shirt were two girls he knew very well, both with strong reasons why to hate them, but only one of them seemed to actually do it. He decided it would be the best if he came around later, the T-shirt would still be there. However, his plans disappeared when he saw the werecoyote turn around and look at him. It looked like she was trying not to growl at him, so she just told Lydia _who_ else was also shopping there. The strawberry blonde also turned around and saw him, but instead of being annoyed at him, she smiled and told him to join them. Malia was just as surprised as he was, but he still came closer to them.

“Theo! Hi! What are you doing here?”

“Shopping, as you probably could tell already” Malia rolled her eyes and Lydia looked unimpressed at his sarcasm, so he talked again. “For clothes, I need new clothes if I´m going back to school”

“You´re getting new clothes?!” Theo was surprised that she was more stunned by the fact that he was getting new clothes than going back to school. “That´s awesome! You know, sometimes you reek.” It was Theo´s turn to roll his eyes now, of course it was that.

“Yeah, thank you Malia. That´s why I need new clothes.” She just ignored him.

“You were coming towards here, you liked something from here? This T-shirt maybe?” She pointed to the T-shirt he had liked

“Why do you want to know?” He asked her, already suspicious. Lydia answered him this time

“We´re shopping for Scott and Stiles, so another male opinion will be good” She explained. “So what, do you like it?”

“Yes, but I don´t think Stiles would like something I helped choosing.” Malia looked at him as if that was the smartest comment he had ever made

“That´s true. Well, why don’t you buy it to yourself? And don´t worry, we wouldn´t buy it, Stiles would even like it less if you two were matching.” Malia laughed at that and Theo had to admit it was true. He caught the T-shirt, he really liked it, but when he saw the price he decided he wouldn´t buy it, no.

“You don´t want it?” Malia asked him “You looked like you really liked it.”

“I did, but it´s too expensive. Not everyone´s rich” He said when he saw how the girls were looking at him. “And I have to buy other things. You know where are the school textbooks?”

“You´re going back to school?!”

“Yes Malia, I already told you. Maybe you should go to the doctor to check on that hearing” This time she actually growled at him. Lydia didn´t pay attention to the bickering going on between the two of them.

“You know, we could lend you some of our textbooks. We don´t need them” Malia looked just as surprised as him.

“We could?” She asked her friend.

“I don´t want your charity, I can afford to buy those books by myself.”

“You really don´t know how expensive all the school material is, right? Apart from the books, you´ll need a schoolbag, notebooks, maybe a computer…” Theo´s eyes widened, he didn´t have the money, not by chance. Watching his expression, Lydia talked again. “Come on Theo. We don´t have a problem about helping you if your plan is to remake your life” Theo was grateful, but he couldn´t accept this. The moment he was going to tell them he didn’t want anything, Malia growled at him again, probably already knowing what he was going to do. So he just followed the two girls around, hoping this would end soon.

After paying for the clothes, they went to Lydia´s house and Theo had never been more uncomfortable than when the banshee had left him alone with Malia to go get some things from her bedroom. Luckily, Lydia came back before he and Malia had started the real fight with lots of papers and some textbooks. She told him that those were her notes, and that they were the only reason why they had all graduated. Then they went to Malia´s house, she was lending him the rest of the books and at the end he was thankful for the girls´ help, because there was no way he could have bought everything by himself.

“Thanks” he told them simply. Malia looked surprised, Lydia not that much

“No problem. Now, would you mind giving as a ride to Scott´s?” They had gotten some pick-up to eat while they shopped. “Everyone´s probably there already and that way we can leave Malia´s car here.” He was honestly surprised when he heard Malia had a car, he thought it was Lydia´s. from the last he could remember, Malia and cars weren´t a good mix. The girl, knowing what he was going to say, glared at him, challenging him to say something, Theo never backed away from a challenge.

“Your car, Malia? I thought I would never see the day.”

“Shut up. You´re not the only thing that changed in those months you weren´t around” _you were in hell_ , he knew she meant. But it surprised him, that Malia had noticed his attempts to change. Without further thinking, he sat on his truck, Lydia taking the passenger seat and Malia the back seat.

“This car smells so much like you, god!” Theo´s heart beat quickened “How much time have you spent in here?”

“A lot” he answered shortly. He realized Lydia was looking at him, but decided to not say anything as he drove them to Scott´s house.

***

“Wh-What!? Lydia?! _Malia?!_ What the hell are you doing with _him_!?” Stiles couldn´t believe his eyes.

“Relax Stiles” Lydia kissed his cheek. “He didn´t force us to go around with him.” Malia chuckled.

“Actually, they did force me to go with them.” Stiles was even more confused at Theo´s words.

“I-I really don´t wanna know. So come on, everyone´s already inside.” And they were, it looked like the night the war ended, though now they weren´t that tired. Everyone greeted them when they came in and Theo went to find Liam, knowing the young werewolf wouldn´t mind his presence.

“Theo, perfect” The beta used as a greeting. “We´re discussing Star Wars with Stiles, you´ll like it.” Theo doubted that.

At the end he did like it. Tease Stiles, talk about Star Wars, being close to Liam… It was good. He was surprised when he saw the camera flash, someone had taken a photo of them. Melissa had an expensive-looking camera and was smiling at it as she saw the picture she had just taken.

“Already enjoying the birthday present, Melissa?” Stiles asked her with a smile. ‘Birthday?!’ Theo was thinking

“Of course! You know, we´re going to need an album to put all this photos, some of them are pretty good I have to say. Now, get closer, I want a photo of you all looking at the camera. Come on, boys!” and they did as they were told. Stiles was next to Scott, who Stiles had brought with him in hopes of convincing him to watch the movies; next to them it was Theo and then Liam. Sat in the floor were Corey and Mason, and they all looked at the camera and smiled and laughed happily when they heard Peter complaining about the lack of birthday parties he had.

After the pictures were taken, everyone went away to do their thing and Theo was left in the couch with Liam.

“You were wrong you know?” the beta told him, changing his seating position so he was facing Theo.

“You´re going to have to be a bit more, specific” In Theo´s mind memories were racing, and he wondered which one of the many times he had been wrong Liam was talking about.

“When you told me we could only feel one emotion at a time. I´m very sure that I´m feeling lots of things right now.” He said that as if he had been thinking about it for a long time, he looked concentrated, as if he was telling Theo a speech.

“I hope none of them is anger.”

“It will be if you keep bringing it up.” After saying that Liam smiled at him, which was weird, but Theo couldn´t complain. Seeing the beta happy made him happy, and now he knew why he felt those things. “I feel at ease and also happy, we´re all together, I wish everyday could be like this. But I also feel sad, this won´t last forever, even Malia is going away tomorrow.”

“For a week Liam, next Monday you´ll have your friend back.” Theo felt the need to comfort him, for the past weeks he had tried to stop Liam from making bad decisions and he had said almost everything to make him feel a little better. He wanted the beta to feel good with himself.

“I know, and thank god” Theo chuckled and Liam looked at him. “I also feel confused, really confused” Liam was looking at him weirdly deep, as if trying to figure him out. The intense gaze left Theo stunned and almost speechless.

“Do I want to know why?” he asked carefully, his voice lower and now looking right into Liam´s eyes.

“Probably not… I don´t know, maybe?” He seemed to think about if telling Theo would be a good idea or not. “ _You_ confuse me” he admitted and Theo felt his heart racing, though he tried to control it, he didn´t want to give anything away for the beta to figure out.

“Do I?”

“Yes, but I don’t know why and that makes it even more confusing.” Theo almost chuckled, that sounded so much like Liam. He wanted to ask why did the other boy find him confusing, but he knew that was dangerous. He was 100% sure that Liam didn´t like him, but maybe he wanted to experiment and Theo couldn´t be the one he experimented with. Apart from the fact that Theo felt more things than just attraction to Liam, there was his past and the pack and way too many other things.

“You´ll have time to find out, that´s for sure, now that I´m going back to school.” Liam looked at him even more confused now, but after 3 seconds of staring, he smiled

“Yeah! It´s so cool you want to come back, but I don´t understand why you want to do it. You _are_ confusing, it´s difficult to understand you.” Theo was upset now, even after trying to change the subject to avoid a fight Liam was pushing him to say something he didn´t even know.

“And what do you want me to do about it Liam?! Be less confusing? How the fuck am I supposed to do that?! I´m like this, you can not change it!”

“What? Theo, you know I didn´t mean it like that! And you _have_ changed, you´re better.”

“Oh no. Now you say that?! That I´m better and wanted in here!? That you _care_?!” the last word hurt, he did care, and a lot. He cared for Liam, he had shown it numerous time.

“Of course I do asshole! Why else would I be spending time with you?!” Liam was hurt, he didn´t know how or when he started to care for the chimera, but they had saved each other´s life that many times that it came naturally for him to care. Theo, on the other hand, was trying to not let Liam´s words affect him and give him hope, and was shutting him off.

“Because you´re scared that I´m going to betray you again! Cause you don´t want me hurting the people you actually care about!” Theo knew he had gone too far when he saw Liam´s expression, pain practically written on his face.

Theo felt the pain way before Liam had punched him. The boy left him with a broken nose, as usual, and also a black eye when he punched him again. At the smell of blood, some members of the pack who had probably listened to the last part of their conversation because they were nearly shouting, turned their heads towards them to see how Liam got off of Theo and went out of the living room, hurt and angry.

Two seconds after watching Liam storm out everyone understood what had happened. Scott and Stiles went to look for Liam, like Mason and Corey. Melissa and Lydia came closer to him, knowing that they needed to talk about whatever had happened. The rest went back to doing their own thing, they all knew that a fight between Liam and Theo wasn´t unusual.

“What happened?” They asked, sounding tired of all their fights.

“Nothing new. We were talking, I said something he didn´t like, he got angry, I screamed at him and he punched me. The usual.” The two women looked at him and he got scared.

“That it is the usual doesn´t mean it is good. I don´t know how your nose looks like this with the amount of times he has broken it.” Theo chuckled at that, but the simple action hurt him, so he stopped.

“You don´t have to worry about me. Especially not in your birthday, Ms. Mccall.” He looked thankfully at her. “Happy birthday, by the way” she smiled at him and Lydia proceed to clean the blood from his face. He grimaced slightly, but let Melissa fix his nose, when she finished she looked at him as if waiting for an explanation on what had happened.

“What” he just said, Lydia and Melissa looked at each other and then at him again.

“We heard part of your conversation, just like everybody else, but we would like to know why you suddenly said those things. You know that´s not true.” Melissa told him calmly.

“He cares too much” He said simply, but when Lydia looked at him wanting more information he decided he could tell them. “I´m no good for him, it´s true that I´ve changed but that doesn´t mean he won´t end up hurt if we become friends.” Lydia smirked at him when he said friends and Theo couldn´t believe how well the banshee was able to read him.

“He wants to be your friend” She started “And you don´t have lots of friends. I don´t think you should ruin something like this with Liam because you´re scared of what direction that friendship might get” Lydia looked at him as if she knew all of his deepest secret, and he wouldn´t be surprised if she did. Melissa widened her eyes and looked at him accusingly, not believing she hadn´t figured it out already. Theo felt himself blush, yes blush, for the first time in years. Feelings were a completely new thing for him, and he had just discovered he felt some big things for Liam and that alone was enough to get a warm feeling in his chest. But having other people also knowing, it made him feel embarrassed, not of his feelings for Liam, but of people knowing, he wasn´t going to go around telling everyone his biggest secret.

“You should talk to him. If you don´t, your nose will be severally injured _again_.” Melissa insisted.

“Since when do you care about my personal life?”

“Since you changed and helped us” Lydia replied easily, as if it was obvious.

“I could be trying to manipulate you and betray you again, for all you know”

“Yes, but you are not. If you were trying to hurt us, you wouldn´t have been trying to save us.” Lydia smirked at him and he wondered when had the banshee become something like his friend. He also wondered why was Malia coming towards them

“Theo, I can´t keep watching this. Do something with your _Liam situation_ because when I come back next week I don´t want you still in denial.”

***

“Liam, why are you so angry? Theo and you fight all the time, it´s normal” Scott tried to reassure him.

“But he is an idiot” Stiles agreed. “We all know he has changed, but he still behaves like a dick when you tell him that. He cares, but he can´t accept we also care. He is so dense and stupid and-“

“Since when do you care so much?” Stiles was looking at him, and to everyone´s surprised there wasn´t any judgment in his gaze, just curiosity.

“I don´t know. He saved my life way too many times, took bullets for me, calms me down and I like to spend time with him. I´m his friend! But he insists on telling me that ‘he´s too bad’” Stiles looked now much more than surprised. His mouth fell opened and he ran a hand over his face, his now wide eyes quickly looked at the others, searching for answers.

“H-How did this happen exactly?!” He looked at Scott. “When did they start to- My god, Liam. I´m gone for a few months and _this_ happens? Unbelievable” Liam was really confused, and he was even more when Mason and Corey looked at Stiles understanding what he meant and Scott went to answer him.

“Stiles, don´t worry. It´s not what you´re thinking, or at least not yet. You still have time to get used to it, Liam is in denial so.”

“I´m in denial of what?! Guys I don´t understand anything you´re saying and why are you so scared?” He told Stiles the last part. The older one looked at him like a mother would look at her child when they are leaving home.

“Liam, you´ll understand. I hope you´re making the good decision.” Liam´s eyes narrowed and Scott, Mason and Corey laughed at Stiles dramatics. Just then Theo appeared, looking smug as always, but you could also see some regret.

“We are good?” He asked simply

“Are you going to stop lying to everyone and yourself about the good things?”

“I seriously hope there are no bad things you´re lying us all about.” Stiles interrupted. He only gained the looks from everybody present.

“Then we´re good.” He smiled at Liam. “Come inside, Melissa wants to take a picture of us all.” And it was true, the moment they came into the house they were met with Melissa making sure absolutely everyone was in the picture. Stiles and Scott went to sit next to Lydia and Malia and the other four sat together on the little couch left. The couch was so small that Mason sat on Corey´s lap and Liam and Theo were uncomfortably pressed together, but everyone felt happiness around them because the whole pack was there. The sheriff, Argent and Parrish were all gathered in the part that was nearest to the kitchen, next to them Derek, Peter, Jackson and Ethan were catching up. Malia, Lydia, Stiles and Scott occupied the big couch and in the little one were the other boys. The pictures were a bit messy and in the end even Melissa joined them.

After taking lots of pictures, it was time to go and everyone congratulated Melissa again and said goodbye to Malia, wishing her a good holiday in France. Everyone went back to their houses, the next day they would go back to school and who knows what more things could happen.


	5. Chapter 5

“This is stupid, _you_ are stupid”

“And you´re an asshole. So just, shut up and go wait there with Mason. You promised me a ride back home.” And Liam ran to the lacrosse field, making Theo wait for him until the training was over to give him a ride home. Almost the whole week had gone by already, it was Thursday and Theo could tell that he didn´t really like the students´ life, but it was better than his previous one. Slowly, he made his way towards where Mason was sitting, watching Corey. He sat next to him and made his homework, he had to do it now because he had to be in work in an hour. From time to time, he looked up to see Liam and sometimes he said something to Mason, but that was all. He had a lot of catch-up to do if he wanted to graduate, and he wasn´t planning on going to high school for another year. When the training ended he drove Liam to his house.

The moment he saw the beta, he could tell something was bothering him. He was sure about what it could be, but he had noticed Liam had been tense the whole week.

“What´s wrong?” Liam looked at him before replaying with a short “nothing”. To which Theo was even more confused. “I know that there is something bothering you”

“I know there´s something that is also bothering you Theo, and you didn´t tell me about it, so why should I?” Liam said it as if he wasn´t interested at all, but his scent betrayed him. On the other side, Theo couldn´t believe he was upset because of him.

“You´re upset because of me?! I don´t have to tell you anything Liam, especially if you didn´t even ask me about it”

“That´s right, also, since when do we tell each other everything?!” Liam was looking at Theo accusingly now, anger clear in his voice. Theo wasn’t going to fall behind

“And what exactly do you want me to tell you Liam?!” He then realized that if they got angry, the conversation would lead nowhere but another fight, so Theo tried to keep calm. “I´ll tell you whatever you want to know if you answer my question. I know I´m not what is upsetting you. If it were me, I would already have a broken nose.” Both young men snorted at that, but they knew it was true. The car was silent for a few minutes before Liam decided to finally speak.

“I´m still angry.” Theo just looked at him, he already knew that. “I supposed that now that there is no close danger, I would be calmer, but I´m not. I didn´t realize it until this week because now that we are back at the school, everything should go back to normal.” Theo could guess where this was going, the adrenaline of the war had banished now that everyone was doing “normal life”, and all the things they pushed aside during the war and celebrating days were now coming back. He himself could feel it, in special when he remembered he had taken someone´s pain, he didn´t know he was able to do it. But the moment he did, he realized he did, in fact, care, and not only about himself. In that moment tons of hidden emotions came back, and he was now trying to understand each of them. The process was stressing him, there were way too many things and he wasn’t comfortable with most of them. “You told me I was this angry because of the Anukite, but now it is gone, and I´m still angry”

“I don´t think that´s weird, that´s probably happening to all of us, now that we don´t have another things in mind” Liam looked at him, a bit of hope in his eyes. “We should enjoy this “free time”, because soon we´ll have to face Monroe again, maybe talking about this with Scott would help” he suggested and Liam looked away from him.

“Maybe” he said slowly. “Now, you have to tell me what´s up with you” At the look Theo gave him, Liam kept talking. “You promised!”

“Again with the ‘you promised!’” Theo mocked him, but he supposed he had to tell Liam, only a bit though. “I´m experiencing new things, new…“

“Emotions” Theo just nodded. “Well, that´s good! Emotions are a good thing, they show you´re human” Theo, wanting to stop the conversation before any more _feelings_ got involved, realized that they were at Liam´s house.

“You know what else is good?” He asked sarcastically “We are already at your place! So come on, get out of my truck” Liam only looked at him for a second before getting out. Then he hesitated and turned to Theo

“Thank you, good night” And before Theo could tell him anything else, he got into the house, leaving the older boy with the right time to get to work in time. Work was easy, he knew how to get people to like him, he wasn´t clumsy and he always remembered what every costumer had ordered. However, he was still tired when the day finally ended and he went to his truck in hopes of finding somewhere safe to sleep soon, which he luckily did.

**

He was woken up by a knock in his window, like usual, but he was surprised when he saw the night sky, he probably had been for just an hour. He moved to his front Seat, already telling whoever was at his window that he was going to move his truck, when Parrish's voice stopped him.

"Theo? Is that you? Why were you sleeping in your car?" Theo took a deep breath, getting ready to tell another lie to explain his situation. Actually, he had thought he would've had to tell that lie millions of times by now, but the people who woke him up just didn't care about a homeless, poor and probably in danger teenage boy.

"I was going to go home, but I was really tired so I just thought about resting here for a moment to avoid an accident. I guess I just fell asleep." His voice was very convincing, but Parrish didn't look really sure, so he tried again. "Can I go away now?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just... try to be safe. I'll see you around"

"Yeah, see you" and with that he took off again, looking for yet another place to spend his night.

~

The next day he didn´t see Parrish, he got breakfast in the gas station, went to school, talked to Liam, received suspicious looks from Mason and Corey when they saw them talking comfortably and then drove to the Mccall house, where they had to discuss some things.

Scott said they needed to have a plan in case Monroe decided to come back, which she would probably do at some point. Stiles would be the one in charge of making the plan and the others had to be ready to whatever thing. Derek and Chris surprised everyone, including Scott, when they said they needed to train together

“Train?! We have never trained!”

“Yes,” Derek interrupted. “But that´s because we didn´t know what we were going to face next. Now we know it´s probably going to be hunters, and it´ll be easier to defeat them if we know what their next moves are gonna be.”

“I can show you the best ways to defeat a hunter, and all of you will know how to defend yourselves even better than now.” Chris told them

“Okay” Scott said, on his face you could see how he was thinking about the advantages it would have. “Everyone agrees?” A few ‘yes’ could be heard and others nodded their heads. Theo was thinking about how and where they were going to meet that they could fight without scaring anyone. Liam, on the other hand, was just wondering how the training sessions were going to be. _Are we going to fight the whole time or are we also going to learn hunters´ strategies? Will we fight all together or in pairs? I would like to fight with Theo, therefore we can spend more time together and fight, which we tend to do a lot…_

“Okay everyone” Melissa appeared from another room with a smile on her lips. “Now that this is discussed, could you please give me and my house a break? Come on, I´m sure you have better things to do than being here on a Friday.” And some of them probably did, Theo didn´t, that´s for sure. He had to study for an exam and finish everything the teachers had assigned him to catch-up. Liam had told him he could help with the history essay but, for now, he didn´t need the extra help, so he went to his truck to spend his _exciting Friday night_ alone with his homework.

**

He was sleeping in his car again, tired from everything that happened that day, when another knock in his window woke him up. This time when he looked up he didn't find kind Parrish, he found the upset one.

"Theo! Your sleeping in your truck again?! You need a ride home or something?” Theo felt a wave of panic rush through him, he couldn´t believe how the deputy was going to find out about his living situations because of being kind enough to offer him a ride, the man was too kind.

"No, no, Parrish. I'll go there by myself. I don't need you. Bye." Then Parrish seemed to realize Theo's blanket and his expression changed to a harder one, it was clear he had understood what was happening there.

"You're staying in your truck" it wasn´t a question. "The other day you told me you were going home. You lied to me.”

"Yeah, I lied, why does that surprise you? Why do you care?"

" You're a kid, you need a home and good food, somewhere you can have a better life."

"Well, that didn't seem important to the rest of the sheriff department, given that they wake me up every day to tell me to fuck off so" Parrish face became one of anger.

"Does the Sheriff know about this?"

"No, I'll go now." and he started to move before Parrish stopped him.

"What are you talking about? Where are you planning to go? Another place like this one?" Theo didn't answer. "Well, don't worry about that, cause you are coming with me"

"You are seriously going to arrest me for this?!" Theo didn´t want to be arrested _again_ , the commissary didn´t bring a lot of good memories.

"I´m not going to arrest you, I´m going to provide you a safe place to stay for, at least, tonight" Theo finally understood what Parrish was implying, and he discovered he preferred being arrested.

"No, I´m not going with you. Besides, it's not illegal to stay in your car. So leave me alone"

"No. You're coming to my place. You'll sleep there tonight and tomorrow we'll talk. You're lucky my shift has just ended."

"Yeah, so lucky" he knew he couldn't not listen to the hellhound, if Parrish wanted he could literally drag him out of the truck.

"Come on, you have to follow me. You know what will happen if you don't."

**

Theo pulled at the driveway in Parrish's house, wondering if he still had enough time to go away without the hellhound noticing. Parrish, as if knowing what the boy was thinking, looked straight at him, a hard glare on his eyes.

"Don't even think about it. You're coming in, whether you like it or not. Otherwise, I'll call Scott." Theo's eyes widened at that, he didn't expect the man to know he didn't want to tell Scott, he followed Parrish into his house.

"I don't care about what anyone of the pack has to say about me or my lifestyle."

"That isn´t the important thing now, Theo. This is not a safe place to stay, anyone could attack you right now. And, now that I think about it, you sleeping in your truck was the reason why those hunters shot you at the beginning of the war. You need to have somewhere safe to spend the night, at least for a few days."

"I don't need your pity"

"It's not pity, it's called kindness.” _Yeah,_ Theo thought, _but this amount of kindness could get you killed if you were talking with me before going to hell._ “And I don't have a spare bedroom, so you'll have to sleep on the couch."

"That´s not a problem. But I still think I shouldn´t be here”. Theo felt uncomfortable, awkward and upset, because the older man was treating him like a child and he knew how to take care of himself.

“I don´t care, go shower and then sleep. I hope to see you here tomorrow morning” Parrish looked over at him

“I have work, so I don´t know if you´ll wake up soon enough to check if I haven´t killed anyone” The words felt bitter even for him and Parrish looked at him as if he was dealing with a complicated child.

“I know you haven´t killed anyone since you came back. I don´t trust you, but you´re changing, and I hope you keep going like this” with that said, he went out of the room and left Theo alone, who took the first real shower he had taken in months and then went to sleep to the couch.

The next morning when Parrish woke up, Theo had already gone to work.

**

“Liam, we wanted to ask you something” Mason told the young werewolf, pausing the videogame they were playing. Liam looked at him with his eyebrows raised, thinking about what could be so important that he had to pause the game.

“What is it?”

“Have you already figured out the _Theo thing_ , or not?” The beta looked confused at his best friend and he opened his mouth to talk, before Mason talked again. “I guess that´s a no”

“What do you mean? Mason, come on! Explain!”

“I think it´s something you should realize by yourself. I know that now you´re in denial, probably because of the reactions that relatio- _thing_ would have” Liam looked even more confused now. “But Liam, you need to know that you have my support, and not only mine”

“What are you talking about?!”

“Just remember that you can tell me, and when you realize it, know that you have almost everyone´s support.”

“This thing we are talking about… It has something to do with Theo?” Liam wasn´t stupid, he might act like it sometimes, but he had a feeling he knew where this conversation was going. He had seen all the looks Mason and Corey threw him when he was talking to Theo, or when the older boy was the only one able to calm him down when he was angry.

“Maybe” Mason replied “I know you know, _feel,_ something. Why don´t you tell me what you feel so we can reach a conclusion and you two stop dancing around each other?” Liam smiled at that and threw a pillow to his best friend, who, used to his impulsiveness, got out of the way before the pillow could hit him.

“I don´t know… It´s weird, it confuses me. He does, and when I told him that, he got angry at me and we fought. Still, it was him the one who really calmed me, he always does.” He wasn´t good with words, but he knew Mason could understand him. “He also distracts me and I always want to know what´s happening in his life because he is my responsibility.” Liam stopped and Mason raised an eyebrow, knowing that there were more things. “He saved my life, and yours. I trust him”

“Okay, that´s progress…” Mason smiled at him “Anything else?” Liam really thought about it, but ended up sighing.

“Not that I can express. I prefer actions than words, you know that.”

“I do, and Theo also does. I just want you to be ready for when one of you finally do something about it. I understand that you don´t know what you want yet, but whatever that is, you can tell me.” Liam looked gratefully at Mason and nodded, both of them going back to playing videogames seconds later.

**

Theo woke up and went to work, just like he told Parrish he would be doing. But not before grabbing an apple from the man´s kitchen, he didn´t have enough time to stop for his coffee and he needed to get to his work on time, he was still starting.

Work was, as always, easy but tiring. He had a break of 30 minutes to eat lunch before finishing his shift, and he realized that there was a scent he recognized in the air. He was sure it wasn´t from anyone in the pack though, so he didn´t know who it could be. However, he decided to ignore it and enjoy his break, he still had some homework left and the moment he got to his truck again, he would have to finish it.

Two hours and lots of coffees later, his shift ended and he made his way to his truck and decided he would go to the public library to finish all his work. Surprisingly enough, he finished almost everything he had to do, except the history essay, too long for his liking. He got out of the library, satisfied with his work, and smelled the same scent from the café. He got suddenly worried, maybe it was a hunter or any other supernatural creature, he walked quickly to where his truck was parked in front of a park and got in. The moment he put the seatbelt on he saw a woman standing next to his truck and he finally recognized that scent.

“Theo” The woman called, a weak smile on her face as he got out of the truck.

“Anne?! What are you doing here?” He stopped walking when the smell of sickness filled the air. “You okay? What happened?” She smirked at him, and it reminded him of the time they had met. It had been before Hell, he was still evil and she was funny and sarcastic. They had talked, and Theo, the real Theo, had liked her. He didn´t need to put on a cover because he wasn´t going to see this girl again, so he had had fun. The girl was a supernatural creature but she wasn´t from Beacon Hills, apparently she was from one of the towns near it and she was running away from home. Theo found it interesting and they laughed, the girl was spontaneous and they got along well. Soon enough, the girl was telling him everything about her life and he listened. One thing lead to another and they slept together. The next morning, after talking and deciding they could still be friends, they had said their goodbyes. Months after, they had met again, surprisingly, when he was driving around Beacon Hills to find a place to sleep. He could smell she was nervous when she saw him, he didn´t know why exactly. They only talked for a few minutes, but she seemed surprised and delighted that the boy had changed. It was obvious he wasn´t the same as before, but she didn´t force him to talk. Then, they had never seen each other again, until now.

“We need to talk” She said shortly.

“I suppose that, why else would you be here?” He smiled at her, but it turned into a frown when she coughed. “What happened to you? You look sick”

“Thank you, you look almost as good as me.” She smirked again, but her face quickly turned serious. “I wanted you to stay out of this for a bit longer, but now things have changed and I need you to do me a favor.”

“No catch-up?” He joked, there were lots of things happening in the moment he didn´t expect. He figured that if they met again they would have a long chat and laugh a lot, but now she had appeared suddenly, looked hurt and was asking him for a favor. “Okay, what do you need?”

“You know the war with the hunters, right?” he nodded “Well, I was passing by here and I didn´t know anything about all of that, so they caught me by surprise and they injected me this poison, or whatever that was, and I´m weaker every day. I had to find you, I have something you need to take care of. And before you refuse, I know you´re not _that_ bad, I trust you, I think you can do it, I think you´ll care enough to do it.” Theo didn´t know what to say, what was she talking about?! What did he have to do?

“What do you mean? You´re hurt? I know a place where they might be able to help you” He said in a rush

“If you´re talking about the vet clinic you´re late. I already went there, I remember you saying something about it and it was the first thing I did when I got here. The man couldn´t do anything and I had to talk to you.”

“Why me? You know me from one single day, I´m sure you have better friends who can do that favor for you.”

“You don´t understand. This includes you as much as it includes me, it _has_ to be you.” Seeing the look the woman was giving him, Theo sighed.

“Okay, what do you need?”

“As I said, I need you to take care of something, or someone” She looked past her shoulder to the car parked next to his and then turned to look at him again. “Don´t freak out, I trust you with this.” The words had an impact on Theo, nobody really trusted him; but he was mostly worried about what Anne was about to tell him, she smelled nervous. She moved to the car and opened the door. “Come on, see, I was talking about this” And he looked inside the car to see a little ball curled on the baby seat, it turned out it wasn´t a ball, _obviously,_ it was a baby. Theo´s eyes widened comically and he looked between the baby and Anna a few times not saying anything, something had finally managed to leave him speechless.

“You have a- you have a baby!” he finally found his words “How didn´t you start with that?!” he looked at her again, eventually realizing what she wanted to ask him: she was sick, probably going to die soon, and she wanted him to take care of _her_ baby, his eyes widened even more. “You kidding, right? I can´t take care of your child! I live in a car, dammit!” Her eyes softened and she put a hand on his shoulders, he tensed but didn´t move. He had lost all his composure, the usually composed chimera was now nowhere to be seen, leaving a nervous boy in his place. “Why don´t you give to someone from your family? The baby surely needs someone from his family to take care of it!”

“It´s actually a she” She corrected him. He then seemed to had a fantastic idea.

“Wait, why don´t you go look for the father? I´m sure he would be delighted to find out he has a child!”

“Theo” she said softly again, the hand on his shoulder made him turn around so he was facing her, the word ‘panic’ was literally written on his forehead. When he looked at her, she smiled and with a shooting voice said the words that changed his world. “I´m already doing that.” It lasted a total of five seconds for him to actually understand what she meant, but when he did his lips parted and his eyes widened even more.

Tons of different thoughts passed his mind in that moment, the first one probably being: _I have a daughter,_ the second one something more like: _I´m a dad,_ the third one were his instincts kicking in: _run, and as fast as you can._ The rest of them were confusing, a debate between himself and himself to assess the situation. _No, I can´t run, now I have something good in my life / You´re way too young to do this / I will take care of her / I can´t even take care of myself / it will be my opportunity to start a new life / I don´t have either the money or the kindness / Will she look similar to me? / I hope she will be better than me / I would love her more than anything / I wouldn´t be enough for her…_

“I-I have a daughter” he looked at her with incredulous eyes, full of emotion and smiled at her. She enveloped him in a hug and after a moment, he hugged her back. “Can I see her?” His voice was raw with emotion as she stepped out of the hug to grab the little baby. When her mother reached for her, the baby opened her eyes a bit and quickly closed them again. Anne put the sleepy baby on her own arms, letting Theo admire his daughter, his eyes took in all her features and he could see part of himself on the baby, but he supposed it would be more obvious when she got older. He caught her on his arms and started rocking her slowly, careful to not hurt her. It was a bit difficult at the beginning to know how to properly hold her, but he let Anne, who was silently watching him, teach him, so he learned fast.

“So, what do you say?” Theo looked up to see Anne. “Are you going to take care of her? I know it´s a lot, a lot of responsibility, a lot of time, a lot of money… But I think it would give you your opportunity to create a new life. Also, you´re her dad and you two seem pretty close already” he looked at her and then at her daughter. It would be really difficult, but it was worth it. He nodded and looked down at his baby again. “You have to know that I was planning on telling you when she were a bit older, and that I´m not leaving cause I don´t want her, but because I´m dying and she needs to get attached to someone who will always be with her. I was hoping that someone could be you.”

“Of course. Just, what´s her name?” He asked her, still admiring his child.

“Prim, short of Primrose. It´s a difficult word to pronounce so it will be long till she knows how to say it. Also, she´s four months old, in the car I have some things you´ll need to take care of a baby, I´ll teach you, you´ll be a great dad”

“I-I don´t know. Maybe it´s too much, or I´m not good enough. Being a dad is a big thing”

“You are already a dad, it´s on you to decide what you want to do. I have to go, you know I would stay if I could, and I want the best for her.”

“I´m probably not the best in anything” He looked at Anne, she was very sick, each passing moment it became more and more noticeable. “But I suppose she´s my responsibility”

“She is. It will be hard, but you have people here who care about you, I´m sure of it.” That reminded him of the pack, what would they say? Or think? Or do? He didn´t want any of them separating him from his child because they didn´t find him good enough. Now more than ever he would need an apartment, or a real place to live in. He was interrupted from his thoughts when he felt a little hand catch his finger and started playing with it. He looked down to see his daughter grabbing his finger, with her eyes opened and a big baby smile. He knew he wouldn´t be able to forgive himself if he left her alone with a mother too sick to take care of her, so he smiled back at her.

“Prim” she looked at him again and made the sounds babies do when they are happy. He looked at Anne now convinced “Okay, I´ll do it.” The woman smiled and tried to hug him with their baby still on his arms.

“That´s perfect! I was really hoping you would, and I know you have some money problems and all, but I think growing up with you would be the best for her. Now, come on, this should be fast. The sooner I go away, the sooner I might be able to come back” She said that as if she didn´t believe she would ever come back, he noticed “Here there are some of the things you´ll need: food and milk for babies, dippers, two feeding bottles and some clothes, you´ll probably have to buy some more. Anyway, all clear?” They chatted for a few more minutes, mostly about the baby, things like her birthday and how she had managed to take care of her until now, and at the end, Anne had to go away. She held her daughter for a last time before saying her goodbyes with tears on her eyes and getting in the car.

Theo wondered how would they look to all the people passing by them or in the park. Probably at the beginning they were just two teenagers talking nonsense, later they were two teenagers talking about serious things, then two teenagers with a baby and at the end they were parents. Theo wondered how a life could change that much in so little time and, with his daughter still on his arms, he put in his truck all his school books and the baby supplies. He sat her on the baby seat for the car and drove to the preserve. He didn´t enter the preserve though, it would be too dangerous, but he couldn´t risk being found by the police with a baby.

He had just parked when he heard a loud cry coming from the back seat, of course, babies cried _a lot._ He got into the back seat and caught her, she was still crying. After rocking her for a bit she calmed down a little and seemed to relax on her dad´s arms. _This isn´t going to be easy._

He was feeding her when his phone buzzed and he looked to see who it could be.

_ Liam  _

_Wanna come over?_

_Theo?_

_If you don´t want to come you could´ve just said it_

_Is something wrong? Are you hurt?_

He typed a quick: “No, I´m fine, just fell asleep.” And continued taking care of his child. He wasn´t going to lie, knowing the beta had been worried about him warmed him, it was nice being cared about by someone. Still, he didn´t know what to do, he had to go to school and to work and needed the money to take care of Prim, but he nobody she could stay with at mornings, and he definitely didn´t have the money to pay for a babysitter. The next day was his free day, he didn´t have school or work and he didn´t need to see the pack. However, he did have to go to the pack meeting on Monday, Malia was coming back and they needed to assign the schedule of the training lessons. He really didn´t know what he could do.

Slowly, Prim fell asleep on his arms and he did too, with his baby safe next to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know maybe some of you think the baby thing is rushed, but is the reason why I started writing this, so I had to put it in the story. Also, I think Theo with a baby would be one of the most beautiful things in the world, it would be way too cute. Anyway, hope you liked it and next chapter soon! :)


End file.
